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HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



ST. AUGUSTINE, 



FLOR I DA. 



Founded September 8. 1565. 



BY GEORGE R, FAIRBANKS, M. A. 



•XI3:II^X) ElDITI0 3iT. 




HORACE DREW. 

.1A("KS()\VII>LE. FL()I!II).\. 

1881. 






Printed at tlie FLORIDA Mirror Printing House, 
Fernandina, Florida. 






RE.SPI':< Tl-nMJA' INSCRIBED 

TO 

BUCKINGHAM SMITH, ESQ., 

r. S. Si;:KErAKY IIF LKCiATIilN AT MM>KI1), 

TO WHOSE EFFORTS 

In thk Discovehy and 1'rkseuvation <»f tiik History and Antiquities 
OF the Spanish Dominion in America. 



A GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT 

IS DUE FROM 

A-M EincAN SCHOLARS. 



c , 



PREFACE, 



This volume, relating to the history and aiitii[uities of the 
oldest settlement in the United States, has grown out of a lec- 
ture delivered by the author, and which he was desired to 
embody in a moi-e permanent form. 

The large amount of interesting material in my posses- 
sion has made my work rather one of laboi-ious eondensation 
than expansion. 

I have endeavored to preserve as fully as possible the 
style and cpuiintness of the old writers from whom 1 have 
drawn, rather than to transform oi- embellish the narrative 
with the supposed graces of modern diction; and, as much of 
the work consisted in translations from foreign idioms, this 
peculiarly un-English style, if I may so call it. will be more 
noticeably observed. I have mainly sought to give it a per- 
manent value, as founded on the most reliable ancient author- 
ities, and thus, to the extent of the ground which it covers, to 
make it a valuable addition to the history oi' our country. 

In that portion (if the work devoted to the destruction 
of the Huguenot colonv and the forces oi Rd)ault, I have in 
the main followed the Spanish accounts, desiring to divest the 
narrative of all suspicion of prejudice or untairness; Jlnrciu, 
the principal authority, as is well Icimwu, professing the same 
faith as Menendez, and studiouslv endeavoring, througlumt his 
work, to exalt the character of the Ailelantado. 

I am under great obligations to my friend, Buckincham 
Smith, Esrp, for repeated favors in the course of its preparation. 



PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION, 



The fir.st edition of this work was published in 1858, the 
author having then been a resident of St. Augustine for many 
years. The city was then in its great lethargy — a peaceful, 
quaint and pleasant city by the sea, its life varying day by 
day but little more than the ebbing and flowing tides which 
washed its shores, or the mild seasons which imperceptibly 
glided into each other. 

The terrible civil war which so long convulsed our whole 
country scarcely disturbed the surface life of the old city, how- 
ever much the hearts of its people went forth in warm sym- 
pathy for their sons on distant battlefields, who had gone out 
in their youth and brightness — alas! so few to return. Their 
roster is inscribed on that memorial shaft which has been erected 
on the plaza to their memory by loving mothei's, sisters and 
friends — perhaps the only visible object within its walls to recall 
that fierce and bloody struggle. 

The first edition having gone out of print, a second edi- 
tion of the work was called for and published in 1868, a period 
which, so far as St. Augustine was concerned, may be regarded 
as the beginning of that renewed prosperity which has contin- 
ued from year to year, and given to it a new life and hopeful 
prospects of enlarged future growth and importance. 

The edition of 1868 has now also been out of print for 
some time, and the author has been induced to issue a third 
edition, brought up to the present time. 

The St. Augustine of to-day, while its location, its natural 
features, its climate and its general appearance is the same old 
city, yet in its new life evinces the healtl\v growth of fertilizing 
influences; the decay of the past is being replaced by the re- 
storative hands of a new generation — not always, it is true, 
regardful of the relics of the past, but nevertheless giving 
strength and beauty to the always aneietit and always inter- 
esting old Spanish city, of San Agustin de Florida. 

Ferminduia, Fin., Sr.pfcnihcr 8, 1881. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

CHAPTER I. 
Introductory 1 

CHAPTER II. 

First Discovery, 1512 to l.Wo — Juan Ponce de Leon 8 

CHAPTER III. 

Ribault, Laudonniere, and ^lenendez — iSettlenients of the Huguenots, 

and Foundation of 8t. Augustine. — 15G2 — 150.5 — 1.5(>s 5 

CHAPTER lY. 
The Attack on Fort Caroline.— 1565 12 

CHAPTER V. 

Escajie of Laudonniere and otliers from Fort Carolint — Adventures of 
the Fugitives 17 

CHAPTER VT. 

Site of Fort Caroline, afterwards called San :\Iatteo 24 

CHAPTEi; YII. 

Menendez's Return to St. Augustine — Shii)\vreck of Ribault — ^lassacre 
of Part of his Conuuand. — A. D. 15{)5 ,'!1 

CHAPTER VIII. 
Fate of Ribault and his Followers — Rloddy Massacre at Matanzas, 1.5()5 :^!) 

CHAPTER IX. 

Fortifying of St. Augustine— Disaffections and Mutinies— Approval of 
Menendez's acts by King of Spain. — Infi.') — 15(j8 4(i 

CHAPTER X. 

The Notable Revenge of Dominic dc (iourgues—lteturn of MiMiciidez— 

Indian ^Fission. — 151)8 5.'} 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

CHAPTER XI. 

Sir Francis Drake's Attack upon St. Augustine — E.stablishment of Mis- 
sions — Massacre of Missionaries at St. Augustine. — 158G — 1688 38 

CHAPTER XII. 

Subjection of tlie Apalachian Indians — Construction of tlie Fort, Sea 
Wall, etc.— 1638— 1700 64 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Attack on St. Augustine by Governor Moore, of South Carolina — Diffi- 
culties with the Georgians. — 1702 — 1732 70 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Siege of St. Augu.stine by Oglethorpe— 1732— 1740 75 

CHAPTER XV. 

Completion of the Ca.stle — Descriptions of St. Augustine a Century 

ago— English Occupation of Florida.— 1755— 1763— 1783 83 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Recession of Florida to Spain — Erection of the Parisli Church — Change 

of Flags.— 1783— 1821 93 

CHAPTER XVII. 

Ti-ansfer of Florida to the United States — American Occupation — An- 
cient Buildings, etc... ..' 99 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Present Appearance of St. Augustine, as given by the Author of Thnn- 

atopsis — Its Climate and Salubrity 103 

CHAPTER XIX. 
St. Augustine in its Old Age.— 1565— 1868 110 

CHAPTER XX. 
A. D. 1S68 to 1881 .' 114 



THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



OF 



ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA. 



C-HAPTER I. 
INTRODUCTORY. 

The Saint Augustine of the present and the St. Augustine of 
the past, are in striking contrast. 

We see, to-day, a town less in popuhition than hundreds of 
places of but few months' existence, age-worn in its appearance, 
with the stillness of a great calm hanging over it, its waters undis- 
turbed except by the passing canoe of the fisherman, its streets 
unenlivened by busy traffic, and at mid-day it might be supposed 
to have sunk under the enchanter's wand into an almost eternal 
sleep. 

With little pax'ticipation in the active schemes of life, or ex- 
alted hopes for the future; with no emulation, and no feveri.sh 
visions of greatness ; with few corner lots on sale or in demand; 
with no sto'cks, save those devoted to disturbers of the public 
peace; with no excitements and no events; a quiet, undisturbed, 
dreamy vision of still life surrounds its walls, and creates a sen- 
sation of entire rejjose, pleasant or otherwise, as it falls upon the 
heart of the weary wanderer sick of life'.?* busy bustle, or upon 
the restless mind of him who looks to nothing as life except per- 
petual, unceasing action — the one rejoicing in its rest, the other 
chafing under its monotony.* And yet, about the old city there 



* Written before the war; within a few years it has assumed new life 
and energy. — G. R. F. 



2 ■ THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

clings a host of historic associations, that throw around it a charm 
which few can fail to feel. 

Its life is in its past ; and Avhen we recall the fact that it was 
the first permanent settlement of the white man, by more than 
forty years, in this confederacy ; that here for the first time, iso- 
lated within the shadows of the primeval forest, the civilization 
of the Old World made its abiding place, where all was new, and 
wild, and strange; that this now so insignificant place was the 
key of an empire ; that upon its fate rested the destiny of a na- 
tion ; that its occuiiation or retention decided the fate of a peo- 
ple ; that it was itself a vice-provincial court, boasted of its Ade- 
lantados, men of the first mark and note, of its Royal Exchequer. 
its public fuiictionaries, its brave men at arms; that its proud 
name, conferred by its monarch, "Zc siempre fid Ciudad cle San 
Aufjustin." — The ever faithful City of St. Augustine — stood out 
upon the face of history; that here the cross was first planted; 
that from the papal throne itself rescripts were addressed to its 
governors; that the first great eflfbrts at Christianizing the fierce 
tribes of America proceeded from this spot; that the martyr's 
blood was first here shed ; that within these quiet walls the din 
of arms, the noise of battle, and the fierce cry of assaulting col- 
umns, have been heard; who will not then feel that we stand 
on historic ground, and that an interest attaches to the annals of 
this ancient city tar more than is possessed by mere brick and 
mortar, rapid growth, or unwonted prosperity? Moss-grown and 
shattered, it appeals to our instinctive feelings 'of reverence for 
antiquity ; and we feel desirous to Ivuow the history of its earlier 
da vs. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 



• CHAPTER II. 

FIRST DISCOVERY, 1512 TO 15(35— JUAN PONCE DE LEON. 

Among the sturdy adventurers of the sixteenth century who 
sought both fame and fortune in the path of discovery, was Ponce 
de Leon, a companion of Columbus on his second voyage, a vet- 
eran and boh:l mariner, who, after a long and adventurous life, 
feeling the infirmities of age and the shadows of the decline of 
life hanging over him, willingly credited the tale that in this, 
the beautiful land of his imagination, there existed a fountain 
whose waters could restore youth to ptdsied age, and beauty to 
efface the marks of time. 

The story ran that far to the north there existed a land 
abouwding in gold and all manner of desirable things, but, above 
all, possessing a river and springs of so. remarkable a virtue that 
their waters would confer immortal youth on whoever bathed in 
them : that upon a time a considerable expedition of the Indians 
of Cul>a had departed northward in search of this beautiful coun- 
try and these waters of immortality, who had never returned, 
and wlio, it was supposed, were in a renovated state, still enjoy- 
ing the felicities of the happy land. 

Furthermore, Peter Martyr affirms, in his second decade, 
addressed to the Pope, "that among the islands on the north side 
of Hispaniola, there is one about three hundred and twenty-five 
leagues distant, as they say which have searclred the same, in the 
which is a continual spring of running water, of such marvelous 
virtue that the water thereof being drunk, perhaps with some 
diet, malcethold men young again. And here I must make j'fro- 
testation to your Holiness not to think this to be said lightly, or 
rashly; for they have so spread this rumor for a truth through- 
out all the court, that not only all the people, but also many of 
them whom wisdom or ibrtune have divided from the common 



4 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

sort think it to be true."* Tliorouglily believing in the verity 
of this pleasant account, this valiant cavalier fitted out an expe- 
dition from Porto Rico, and in the j^rogress of his search came 
upon the coast of Florida, on Easter Monday, 1512, supposing 
then, and for a long period afterwards, that it was an island. 
Partly in consec[uence of the bright spring verdure and flowery 
jDlains that met his eye, and the magnificence of the magnolia, 
the bay and the laurel, and partly in honor of the day, Pascua 
Florida, or Palm Sunday, and reminded, probably of its appro- 
priateness by the profusion of the cabbage palms near the point 
of his landing, he giwe to the country the name of Florida. 

On the 3d of April, 1512, three hundred and fifty-five years 
ago, he landed a few miles north of St. Augustine and took 
possession of the country for the Spanish Throne. He found 
the natives fierce and implacable ; and after exploring the coun- 
try for some distance around, and trying the virtue of all the 
streams, and growing neither younger nor handsomer, he left the 
country without making a permanent settlement. 

The subsequent explorations of Narvaez, in 1526, and of De 
Soto, in 1539, were made in another, portion of our State, and do 
not bear immediately upon the subject of our investigation, al- 
though forming a most interesting portion of our general history. 



*The Fountain of Youth is a very ancient fable; and the reader will he 
reminded of the aniusinj;' story of the acconij)lishnient of this miracle, told 
in Hawthorne's Twice-Told Tales, and of the marvelous effects produced 
hy imbibing this celebrated spiring water. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 



CHAPTER III. 

RIBAULT, LAUDONNIERE, AND MENENDEZ — SETTLEMENT OF 

THE HUGUENOTS, AND FOUNDATION OF ST. 
AUGUSTINE— 1562— 1565— 1568. 

The settlement of Florida had its origin in the religious 
troubles experienced by the Huguenots under Charles IX in 
France. 

Their distinguished leader, Admiral Coligny, as early as 
1555, projected colonies in America, and sent an expedition to 
Brazil, which proved unsuccessful. Having procured permission 
from Charles IX to found a colony in Florida — a designation 
which embraced in rather an indefinite manner the whole coun- 
try from the Chesapeake to the Tortugas — he sent an expedition 
in 1562 from France, under command of Jean Ptibault, composed 
of many young men of good family. They first landed at the 
St. Johns river, where they erected a monument, but finally es- 
tablished a settlement at Port Royal, South Carolina, and erected 
a fort. After some months, however, in consequence of dissen- 
sions among the officers of the garrison, and difficulties with the 
Indians, this settlement was abandoned. 

In 1564 another expedition came out under the command of 
Rene de Laudonniere, and made their first landing at the River 
of Dolphins, being the present harbor of St. Augustine, and so 
named by them in consequence of the great number of dolphins 
(porpoises) seen by them at its mouth. They afterwards coasted 
to the north, and entered the River St. John.'^, called by them 
the River May. 

Upon an examination of tliis river, Laudonniere concluded 
to establish his colony on its banks ; and proceeding about two 
leagues above its mouth, built a fort upon a pleasant hill of 
"mean height," which, in honor of his sovereign, he named Fort 
Caroline. 

The colonists, after a few months, were reduced to great dis- 



6 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

tress, and were about taking measures to abandon the country 
a second time, when Kibault arrived with reinforcements. 

It is supposed that intelligence of these expeditions was com- 
municated by the enemies of Coligny to the court of Spain. 

Jealousy of the aggrandizement of the French in the New 
World, mortification for their own unsuccessful efforts in that 
quarter, and a still stronger motive of hatred to the faith of the 
Huguenot, induced the bigoted Philip II, of Spain, to dispatch 
Pedro Menendez de Aviles, a brave, bigoted and renior.seless 
soldier, to drive out the French colony, and take possession of 
the country for himself. 

The compact made between the King and Menendez was, 
that he should furnish one galleon completely equipped, and pro- 
visions for a force of six hundred men ; that he should concpier 
and settle the country. He obligated himself to carry one hun- 
dred horses, two hundred horned cattle, four hundred hogs, four 
hundred sheep and some goats, and five hundred slaves, (for 
which he had a permission free of duties), the third part of which 
should be men, for his own service and that of those Avho went 
with him, to aid in cultivating the land and building. That 
he should take twelve priests and four fathers of the Jesuit 
order. He was to build two or three towns of one hundred fam- 
ilies, and in each town should build a fort according to the nature 
of the country. He was to have the title of Adelantado of the 
country, as also to be entitled a Marquis, and his heirs after him, 
to have a tract of land, receive a salary of 2,000 ducats, a per- 
centage of the royal duties, and have the freedom of all the other 
ports of New Spain.* 

His force consisted, at starting, of eleven sail of vessels, with 
two thousand and six hundred men ; but, owing to storms and 
accidents not more than one-half arrived. He came upon the 
coast on the 28th of August, 1565, shortly after the arrival of 
the fleet of Ribault. On the 7th day of September, Menendez 
cast anchor in the River of Dolphins, the harbor of St. Augustine. 
He had previously discovered and given chase to some of the 
vessels of Ribault, off" the mouth of the River May. The Indian 



Barcia Ensayo, Cron. 6G. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. / 

village of Selooe then stood upon the site of St. Augustine, and 
the landing of Menendez was upon the spot where the city of St. 
Augustine now stands. ' 

Fray Francisco Lopez de Mendoza, the chaplain of the ex- 
pedition, thus chronicles the disembarkation and attendant cere- 
monies : 

"On Saturday, the 8th day of September, tlie day of tlic nativity of 
onr Lady, the General disembarked, with numerous banners disjiUiyed, 
trumpets and other uiartial uuisic resounding, and auiid salvos of artillery. 

"Carrying a cross, I proceeded at the head, chanting the hymn Tc 
Deum Laudamus. The General marched straight up to the cross, togetlier 
with all those who accompanied him; and, kneeling, they all kissed the 
cross. A great number of Indians looked upon these ceremonies, and 
imitated whatever they saw done. Thereupon the General took possession 
of the country in the name of His ifajesty. All the officers then took an 
oath of allegiance to him, as their General, and as Adclantado of the whole 
country." 

The name of St. Augustine was given, in the usual manner 
of the early voyagers, because they had arrived upon the coast 
on the day dedicated in their calendar to that eminent saint of 
the primitive church, revered alike by the good of all ages for 
his learning and piety. 

The, first troops who landed, says Mendoza, were well re- 
ceived by the Indians, who gave them a large mansion belong- 
ing to the chief, situated near the banks of the river. The 
engineer officers immediately erected an entrenchment of earth, 
and a ditch around this house, Avith a slope nnade of earth and 
fascines, these being the only means of defence which the coun- 
try presents; for, says the father with surprise, "there is not a 
stone to be found in the whole country." They landed eighty 
cannon from the ships, of which the lightest weighed two thou- 
sand five hundred pounds. 

But in the meantime Menendez had by no means forgotten 
the errand upon which he principally came; and by inrptiries of 
the Indians, he soon learned the position of the French fort and 
the condition of its defenders. Impelled by necessity, Laudon- 
niere had been forced to seize from the Indians food to supply 
his famished garrison, and had thus incurred their enmity, which 
was soon to produce its sad result^.. 

The Spaniards numbered about six hundred combatants, and 



8 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

tlie French about the same; but arrangements had been made 
irir further accessions to the Spanish force, to be drawn from St. 
Domingo and Havana, and these were daily expected. 

. It was the habit of those days to devolve almost every event 
upon the ordering of a special providence ; and each nation had 
come to look upon itself almost in the light of a peculiar people, 
led, like the Israelites of old, by signs and wonders; and as in 
their own view all their actions were directed by the design of 
advancing God's glory as well as their own purposes, so the 
blessing of Heaven would surely accompany them in all their 
undertakings. 

So believed the Crusaders on the plains of Palestine; so be- 
lieved the conquei^ors of Mexico and Peru ; so believed the Puri- 
tan settlers of New England (alike in their Indian wars and 
their oppressive social polity) ; and so believed, also, the follow- 
ers of Menendez and of Eibault; and in this. simple and trusting 
tiuth, the worthy chaplain gives us the folloAving account of the 
miraculous escape and deliverance of a portion of the Spanish 
fleet: 

"God and his Holy Motlier have performed another great miracle in 
<iur favor. The day following the landing of the General in the. fort, he 
said to u.s that he was very uneasy because his galley and another vessel 
were at anchor, isolated and a league at sea, being unable to enter the port 
on account of the shallowness of the water; and that he feared that the 
French might come and capture or maltreat them. As soon as this idea 
came to him he departed, with fifty men, to go on board of his galleon. 
He gave orders to three shallops which were moored in the river to go out 
and take i;)n board the provisions and troops which were on board the gal- 
leon. The next day, a shallop having gone out thither, they took on 
board as much of the provisions as they could, and more than a lunidred 
men who were in the vessel, and returned towards the shore; but half a 
league l^efore arriving at the bar they were overtaken by so complete a 
calm that they were unable to proceed further, and tliereupon cast anchor 
and passed the night in that place. The day following at In-eak of day 
they raised anchor as ordered by the pilot, as the rising of the tide Itcgan to 
be felt. When it was fiiUy light they saw astern of them, at the poop of 
the vessel, two French ships which during the night had been in search 
of them. The enemy arrived with the intention of making an attack 
upou us. The French made all haste in their movcnionts. for we had no 
arms on board and had only embarked the i)rovisions. When day ap- 
peared and our people discovered the French, they addressed their jirayers 
to our Lady of Bon. Secours d' Utreni, and supplicated her to grant them a 
little wind, for the French were already close up to them. They say that 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLOKIDA. 9 

Our Lachj descended, herself, upon the vessel ; for tlic wind freshened and 
blew fair for the bar, so that tlie shallop could enter it. The French fol- 
lowed it; Init as the bar has but little depth and their vessels were large, 
they were not able to go over it, so that our men and the provisions made 
a safe harbor. When it l)ccamc still clearer, they perceived, besides the 
two vessels of the enemy, four others at a distance, Ijcing the same which 
we had seen in port the evening of our arrival. They were well furnished 
with both troops and artillery, and had directed themselves for our galleon 
and the other ship, which were alone at sea. In this circumstance God 
accorded us two favors. The tirst was, that the same evening, after they 
had discharged the provisions and the troops I have spoken of, at mid- 
night the galleon and other vessel put to sea without being perceived by 
the enemy — the one for Spain, and the other for Havana, for the purpose 
of seeking the fleet which was there; and in this way neither was taken. 
"The second favor, by which God rendered us a still greater service, 
was, that on the day following the one I have described there arose a storm, 
and so great a tempest that certainly the greater part of the French vessels 
must have been lost at sea ; for they were overtaken upon the most dan- 
gerous coast I have ever seen, and were very close to the shore; and if our 
vessels, that is, tha galleon and its consort, are not shipwrecked, it is be- 
cause they were already more than twelve leagues off the coast, which 
gave them the facility of running before the Avind, and nianccuvering as 
well as they could, relj^ing upon the aid of God to preserve them."* 

Menendez had ascertained from the Indians that a large 
number of the French troops had embarked on board of the ves- 
sels which he had seen off the harbor, and he had ^ood ground 
for believing that tliese vessels would either bo cast helpless 
upon the shore, or be driven off loy the tempest to such a dis- 
tance as would render their return for some days impossible. 
He at once conceived the project of attacking the French fort 
uj^on the river May, by land. 

A council of war was hold, and after some discussion, for 
the most part adverse to the plan proposed by him, Menendez 
spoke as follows : 

"Gentlemen and Brothers! We have before us now an opportunity 
which if imi)roved by us will have a happy result. I am satisfied that the 



■••■'The galleon spoken of was Mencndez's own flag ship, tlie El Pclayo, 
the largest vessel in his fleet, fitted out at his own expense, and which had 
))rought four hundred men. He had put on board of her a lieutenant and 
some soldiers, I)esides flfteeii Lutiierans as prisoners, whom he was sending 
home to tlie Incjuisition at Seville. . The orders to his officers were tn go as 
s])eedily as ])o.ssible to the island of His])ani()la, to bring provisions and 
additional forces, l^pon the i)assage, tiie Lutheran prisoners, with some 
Levantine sailors, rose upon tlie Spaniards, killed tlie commander, and car- 
ried the vessel into Denmark. Menendez was much chagrined when he 
ascertained the fate of his favorite galleon, a long period afterwards. 



10 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

French fleet, which four days since fled from me and lias now come to 
seek me, has been reinforced with the larger part of the garrison of their fort, 
to which, nor to port, will they be able to return for many days, according 
to appearances; and since they are all Lutherans, as we learned Ijefore we 
sailed from Spain, by the edicts which Jean Eibault publislied Ijefore em- 
barking, in order that no Catholic at the peril of his life should go in his 
fleet, nor any Catholic books be taken ; and this they themselves declared 
to us the night they fled from us, and hence our war must be to blood and 
fire, not onlj'^ on account of the orders we are under, but because they 
have sought iis in order to destroy us, that we should not plant our holy 
religion in these regions, and to establish their own abominable and crazy 
sect among the Indians; so that the more promptly we shall punish them, 
we shall the more speedily do a service to our God and our King, and com- 
ply with our conscience and our duty. 

"To accomplish this, we must choose five hundred arquebuse men 
and pikemen, and carry provisions in our knapsacks for eight days, di- 
vided into ten companies, each one with its standard and its captain, and 
go with this force by land to examine the settlements and fort of our ene- 
mies ; and as no one knows the road, I will guide you within two points by 
a mariner's compass; and where we cannot get along, we will open a way 
with our axes ; and moreover, I have with me a Frenchman who has been 
more than a year at their fort, and who says he knows the ground for two 
leagues around the fort. 

" If we shall arrive without discovery, it may l)e that falling upon it 
at daylight we may take it, by planting upon it twenty scaling ladders, at 
the cost of fifty lives. If we are discovered, we can form in the shelter of 
the wood, which I am assured is not more than a qiiartcr of a league distant, 
and planting there ten standards, send forward a trumi)eter requiring them 
to leave the fort and the country, and return to their own countrj- , offering 
them ships and jirovisions for the voyage. They will imagine that we 
have a much greater army with us, and thej^ may surrender; and if they 
do not, we shall at least accomi^lish that tliey will leave us undistiirbed in 
this our own settlement, and we shall know the way, so that \vc may re- 
turn to destroy them the succeeding si>ring." 

After some discussion it was concluded that after hearing 
mass they should undertake the expedition on the third day. 
Considerable opposition was manifested on the part of the officers ; 
but, with a consummate knowledge of human nature, the Ade- 
lantado got up the most splendid dinner in his power, and in- 
vited his recreant officers to the repast, and dexterously appealed 
to their fears, as well as their pride, and overcame their 
reluctance to undertake the unknown dangers of a first march 
through Florida at a wet season, an actual accjuaintance with 
which would still more have dampened their ardor. 

The troops assembled promptly upon the day appointed, at 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 11 

the sound of the trumpet, the fife and the drum, and they all 
went to hear mass, except Juan de Vicente, who said he had a 
disorder of the stomach, and in his leg; and when some friends 
wished to urge his coming, he replied: "I vow to God, that I 
will Avait until the news comes that our force is entirely cut off, 
when we who remain will embark in our three vessels, and go to 
the Indies, where' there will be no necessity of our all perishing 
like beasts." 

This Juan Vicente seems to have been an apt specimen of a 
class of croakers not peculiar to any age or country. Of his future 
history the chronicle gives other instances of a similar spirit; and 
his sole claim to immortality, like that of many another, is founded 
upon his impudence. 



12 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ATTACK OX FOKT CAEOLIXE— 1565. 

The troops having heard mass, marched out in order, pre- 
ceded by twenty Biscayans and Asturians having as their cap- 
tain Martin de Ochoa, a leader of great fidelity and bravery, 
furnished with axes to open a road where they could not get 
along. At this moment there arrived two Indians, who said that 
they had l^een at the fort six days before, and who " seemed like 
angels" to the soldiers sent to guide their march. Halting for 
refreshment and rest wherever suitable places could be found, 
and the Adclantado always with the vanguard, in four days' they 
reached the vicinity of the fort, and came up within less than a 
cpiarter of a league of it, concealed by a grove of pine trees. It 
rained heavily, and a severe storm prevailed. The place where 
they had halted was a very bad one, and very marshy ; but he 
decided to stop there, and went back to seek the rearguard, lest 
they might lose the way. 

About ten at night the last of the troops arrived, very Avet 
indeed, for there had been much rain during the four days ; they 
had passed marshes with the water rising to their waists, and 
every night there was so great a flood that they were in great 
danger of losing their powder, their match-fire, and their biscuit; 
and they became desperate, cursing those who had brought them 
there, and themselves for coming. 

Menendez pretended not to hear their complaints, not dar- 
ing to call a council as to proceeding or returning, for both officers 
and soldiers went forward very inquietly. Remaining firm in 
his own resolve, two hours before dawn he called together the 
Master of the Camp and the Captains to whom he said that dur- 
ing the whole night he had sought of God and his most Holy 
Mother that they would favor him and instruct him what he 
should do most advantageous for their holv service ; and he was 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. IS 

persuaded that they had all done the same. " But now, gentle- 
men," he proceeded, "we must make some determination, finding 
ourselves exhausted, lost, without ammunition or provisions, and 
without the hope of relief." 

Some answered very promptly : "Whyshoiild they waste 
their time in giving reasons? for, unless they returned quickly 
to St. Augustine, they would be reduced to eating palmettos ;* 
and the longer they delayed, the greater trouble they would 
have." 

The Adelantado said to them that what they said seemed 
very reasonable, but he would ask of them to hear some 
reasons to the contrary, without being offended. He then pro- 
ceeded — after having smoothed down their somewhat ruifled dis- 
positions, considerably disturbed by their first experience in en- 
countering the hardshijDS of such a march — to show them that the 
danger of retreat was then greater than an advance would be, as 
they would lose alike the respect of their friends and foes. That 
if, on the contrary, they attacked the fort, whether they suc- 
ceeded in taking it or not, they would gain honor and reputation. 

Stimulated by the speech of their General, they demanded 
to be led to the attack, and the arrangements for the assault were 
at once made. Their French prisoner was placed in the advance ; 
but the darkness of the night and the severity of the storm ren- 
dered it impossible to proceed, and they halted in a marsh, with 
the water up to their knees, to await daylight. 

At dawn the Frenchman recognized the country, and the 
place where they were, and where stood the fort; upon which 
the Adelantado ordered them to march, enjoining upon all, at 
the peril of their lives, to follow him; and coming to a small hill, 
the Frenchman said that behind that stood the fort, about three 
bow shots distant, but lower down, near the river. The Gen- 
eral put the Frenchman into the custody of Castaneda. He went 
up a little higher and saw the river and one of the houses, but 
he was not able to discover the fort, although it was adjoining 
them; and he returned to Castaneda, with whom now stood the 
Master of the Camp and Ochoa, and said to them that he wished 

*A low palm, bearing an oily berry. 



14 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

to go lower down, near to the houses which stood behind the hill, 
to see the fortress and the garrison, for, as the sun was now up, 
they could not attack the fort without a reconnoisance. This 
the Master of the Camp would not permit him to do, saying this 
duty ajDjoertained to him ; and he went alone with Ochoa near to 
the houses, from whence they discovered the fort; and returning 
with their information, they came to two paths, and leaving the 
one by which they came, they took the other. The Master of 
the Camp discovered his error coming to a fallen tree, and turned 
his face to inform Ochoa, who was following him; and as they 
turned to seek the right path, he stopped in advance, and the 
sentinel discovered them, who imagined them to be French ; but 
examining them he perceived they were unknown to him. He 
hailed, '"Who goes there ^" Ochoa answered, "Frenchmen.'' 
The sentinel was confirmed in his supposition that they were his 
own people, and approached them; Ochoa did the same; but 
seeing they were not French, the sentinel retreated. Ochoa 
closed with him, and with his drawn sword gave him a cut over 
the head, Ijut did not hurt him much, as the sentinel fended off 
the blow with his sword ; and the Master of the Camp coming 
lip at this moment, gave him a thrust, from which he fell back- 
wards, making a loud outcry. The Master of the Camp, putting 
his sword to his breast, threatened him with instant death unless 
he' kept silence. They tied him thereupon, and took him to the 
General, who, hearing the noise, thought the Master of the camp 
was being killed, and meeting with the Sergeant-major, Francisco 
de Recalde, Diego de Maya, and Andres Lopez Patino, with their 
standards and soldiers, without being able to restrain himself, he 
cried out : '' Santiago ! Upon them ! Help of God, Victory ! The 
French are destroyed. The Master of the Camp is in their fort, 
and has taken it." Upon which, all rushed forward in the path 
without order, the General remaining behind, repeating what he 
had said many time.s — himself believing it to be certain that the 
Master of the Camp had taken with him a considerable force, and 
had captured the fort. 

So great vras the joy of the soldiers, and such their speed, 
that they soon came up with the Master of the Camp and Ochoa, 
who was hastenina; to receive the reward of carrvins; the good 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLOEIDA. 15 

news to the General of the capture of the sentineL But the Mas- 
ter of the Camp, seeing the spirit which animated the soldiers, 
killed the sentinel, and cried out with a loud voice to those who 
were pressing forward, " Comrades ! do as I do. God is with us ;" 
and turned, running towards the fort, and meeting two Frenchmen 
on the way, he hilled one of them, and Andres Lopez Patino the 
other. Those in the environs of the fort, seeing this tragedy en- 
acted, set up loud outcries; and in order to know the cause of 
the alarm, one of the Frenchmen within opened the postern of 
the principal gate, which he had no sooner done than it Avas ob- 
served by the Master of the Camp ; and throwing himself upon 
him, he killed him, and entered the gate, followed by the most 
active of his followers. 

The French, awakened by the clamor, some dressed, others 
in their night clothes, ritshed to the doors of their houses to see 
what had happened; but they were all killed, except sixty of the 
more wary, who escaped by leaping the walls. 

Immediately the standards of the Sergeant-major and of 
Diego Mayo were brought in, and set up by Rodrigo Troche and 
Pedro Valdes Herrera, with two cavaliers at the same moment. 
These being hoisted, the trumpets proclaimed the victory, and 
the bands of soldiers who had entered opened the gates and 
sought the quarters, leaving no Frenchman alive. 

The Adelantado hearing the cries, left Castaneda in his place- 
to collect the people who liad not come up, who were at least 
half the force, and went himself to see if they were in any dan- 
ger. He arrived at the fort running; and as he perceived that 
the soldiers gave no cpuirter to any of the French, he shouted. 
"That at the penalty of their lives they should neither wound 
nor kill, any woman, cripple, or child under fifteen years of age." 
By which seventy persons were saved ; the rest ivereall hilled! 

Renato de Laudonuiere, the commander of the fort, escaped 
with his servant and some twenty or thirty others, to a vessel 
lying in the river. 

Such is the Spanish chronicle, contained in Barcia, of the 
captitre of Fort Caroline. Its details in the main corre.sj^ond witli 
the account of Laudonuiere, and of Nicolas Challeaux, the author 
of the letter printed at Lyons, in Fi'ance. under date of August. 



16 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

15G6, by Jean Saugrain. In some important particnlars, how- 
ever, the historians disagree. It has been ah^eady seen that Me- 
nendez is represented as having given orders to spare all the 
women, maimed persons, and all children under fifteen years of 
age. The French relations of the event, on the contrary, allege 
that an indiscriminate slaughter took place, and that all were 
massacred without respect to age, sex, or condition ; but as this 
statement is principally made upon the authority of a terrified 
and flying soldier, it is alike due to the probabilities of the case, 
and more agreeable to the hopes of humanity, to lessen some- 
what the horrors of a scene which has need of all the palliation 
that can be drawn from the slightest evidences of compassion on 
the part of that stern and bigoted leader. 

The Spanish statement is further confirmed by other writers, 
who speak of a vessel being dispatched by Menendez subsequently 
to carry the survivors to Spain. 




PEDP.0 MEXENDEZ DE AVILEZ. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 17 



CHAPTER V. 

ESCAPE OF LAUDOXNIERE AND OTHERS FROM FORT CARO- 
LINE—ADVENTURES OF THE FUGITIVES. 

The narratives of this event are found singularly full, there 
being no less than three accounts l)y fugitives from the massacre. 
The most complete of these is that of Nicolas cle Challeux, a na- 
tive of Dieppe, which was published in the following year. I have 
largely transcribed from this cpiaint and curious narrative, not 
only on account of the fulness of the details, but also for the 
light it throws upon the habits of thought and modes of expres- 
sion of that day, when so much was exhibited of an external 
religious faith, and so many were found who would fight for their 
faith when they refused to adhere to its requirements. There 
are apparent, also, a close study of the Scriptures, a great famil- 
iarity with its language, a frequent use of its illustrations, and a 
disposition to attribute all things, with a reverent piety, to the 
direct personal supervision of the Almighty. By the aid of a 
map of the St. Johns river, it will not be difficult to trace the 
perilous route of escape pursued by De Challeux and his com- 
panions, over obstacles much magnified by the terror of the mo- 
ment and want of familiarity with the country : 

"Tlu' iuuiiI)or (»f pcixm.s in the fort was two luindrod and forty, jtartly 
of those who luid not recovered from sou-sickness, partly of artisans and 
of women and eliildren left to the care and diligence of Captain Laudon- 
nicre, who had no expectation that it was possible that any force could 
approach by land to attack him : on which account the guards had with- 
drawn for the purpose of refresliing themselves a little beft)re snnrise, on 
accimnt of the bad weather which had continued dm-ing tlie whole niglit, 
most of our people being at the time in their beds sleejiing. The wicket 
gate open, the Spanish force, having traversed forests, swamps and rivers, 
arrived at break of day, Friday, the 20th September, the weather very 
stormy, and entered the fort without any resistance, and made a horrible 
.satisfaction of the rage and hate they liad conceived again.st our nation. 
It was then who slumld best kill the most men, sick and well, women and 
little children, in .such a manner that it is impossible to cnnceivt* of a mas- 
sacre which could etpuil this for its barbarity and cruelty. 



18 THE HISTOEY AND ANTIQUITIES 

" Some of the more active of our people, jumping from tlieir bedsi, 
slipped out and escaped to the vessel in the river. I was myself surpi-ised, 
going to my duty witli my clasp-knife in my hand ; for upon leaving my 
cabin I met the enemy, and saw no other means of escape but turning my 
back and making the utmost possible haste to lead over the palisades, for 
I was closely pursued, stej) by step, by a pikeman, and one with a parti- 
san ; and I do not know how it was, unless by the grace of God, that my 
strength was redoubled, old man as I am and gray-headed, a thing which 
at any other time I could not have done, for the rampart was raised eight 
or nine feet. I then hastened to secrete myself in the woods, and when I 
was sufticiently near the edge of the wood, at the distance of a good bow- 
shot, I turned towards the fort and rested a little, finding myself not pur- 
sued; and as from this place all the fort, even the inner court, was dis- 
tinctly visible to me, looking tliere I saw a liorrible butchery of our men 
taking place, and three standards of our enemies planted upon the ram- 
parts. Having then lost all hope of seeing our men rally, I resigned all 
my senses to the Lord. Recommending myself to His mercy, grace and 
favor, I threw myself into the wood, for it seemed to me that I could find 
no greater cruelty among the savage beast than that of our enemy which 
I had seen shown towards our people. But the misery and anguish in 
which I found myself then, straitened and oppressed, seeing no longer any 
means of safety upon the earth, unless by a special grace of our Lord, tran- 
scending any expectation of man, caused me to utter groans and sobs, and 
with a voice broken by distress to thus cry to the Lord : 

" '0 God of our fathers and Lord of all mercy ! who hast commanded 
us to call upon Thee even from the depths of hell and the shades of death, 
promising forthwith Thy aid and succor! show me, for the hope which I 
have in Thee, what course I ought to take to come to the termination of 
this miserable old age, plunged into the gulf of grief and bitterness; at 
least, cause that, feeling the effect of Thy mei'cy, and the confidence which 
I have conceived in my heart for Thy promises, they may not be snatched 
from me through fear of savage and wild beasts on one hand, and of our 
and Thy enemies on the other, who desire the more to injure us for the 
memory of Thy name, which is invoked by us, than for any other cause ; 
aid me, my God ! assist me, for I am so troubled tliat I can do notliing 
more.' 

"And while I was making this prayer, traversing the wood, which was 
very thick and matted with briars and thorns, beneath the large trees 
where there was neither any road nor path, scarcely had I trailed my way 
half an hour, when I heard a noise like men weeping and groaning near 
nie; and advancing in the name of God, and in tlie confidence of His suc- 
cor, I discovered one of our peoi)le, named 8ieur de la Blonderie, and a 
little behind liim another, named Maitre Rol)ert, well known to us all, 
because he had in charge the prayers at the fort. 

" Immediately afterwards we found also the servant of Sieur d'Ully, 
the nejAew of M. Lebreau, Master Jaques Trusse, and many others; and 
we assembled and talked over our troubles, and deliberated as to what 
course we could take to save our lives. One of our numlier, nuich esteemed 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 19 

a-i being very learned in the lessons of Holy Scripture, iiroposeil ai'ter thi.< 
manner: 'Brethren, we see to what extremity we are l)rouKht: in what- 
ever direction we turn our eyes, we see only barbarism. The heavens, the 
earth, the sea, the forest and men — in brief, nothing favors us. Ii(jw can 
we know that if we yield to the mercy of the Spaniards, they will spare 
us? And if they should kill us, it will be the suffering of but a ni'jment . 
they are men, and it may be that, their fury appeased, they may receive us 
upon some terms. AtuI, moreover, what can we do? Would it not be 
better to fall into tlie hands of men than into the jaws of wild liea.-ts. oi- 
die of hunger in a strange land?' 

" After he had thus sjioken, the greater part of our numlH-r were of 
his ojiinion, and jiraised his counsel. Notwithstanding, I pointed out the 
cruel animosity still unappeased of our enemies, and that it was not for 
any human cause of quarrel that they had carried out witli such fury their 
enterprise, but mainly (as would appear by the notice they had already 
given us) because we were of those who were reformed by the preaching of 
the Gospel ; that we should be cowards to trust in men rather than in God, 
who gives life to His own in the midst of death, and gives ordinarily His 
assistance when the hojies of men entirely fail. 

" I also brought to their minds examides from Scripture, instancing 
Josei)h, Daniel, Elias, and the other prophets, as well also the apostles, as 
St. Peter and St. Paul, who were all drawn out of much affliction, as would 
appear, by means extraordinary and strange to the reason and judgment 
of men. His arm, said I, is not shortened, nor in anywise enfeebled; His 
power is always the same. Do you not recollect, said I, the flight of the 
Israelites before Pharaoh ? Wliat hope had that people of escaping from 
the hands of that powerful tyrant? He had them, as it were, under his 
lieel. Before them they had the sea; on either side, inaccessible nmuntains. 
What then? He who opened the sea to make a path for his people, and 
made it afterwards t ■> swallow up his enemies, can not He conduct us b\' 
the forest places of this strange country? While thus discoursing, six of 
the company followed out the first proposition, and abandoned us to go 
and yield themselves up to our enemies, hoping to find favor liefure them. 
But they learned, immediately and by experience, what folly it is to trust 
more in men than in the ]>roTnise of the Lord; for, having gone out of the 
wood, as they descended to the fort they were immediately seized by the 
Spaniards and treated in the .same fashion as the others had been. They 
were at once killed and massacred, and then drawn to the banks of the 
river, where the otliers killed at the fort lay in heaps. We who remained 
in the wood (•ontinue<l to make our way, and drawing towards the sea, as 
well as we could judge, and as it pleased God to conduct our paths and to 
straiten our course, we soon arrived at the brow of a mountain, and from 
there commenced to see the sea,, but it was still at a great distance ; and 
what was worse, the road we had to take showed itself wonderfully strange 
and difficult. In the fir.st place, the mountain from which it was necessary 
for us to descend was of such height and ruggedness that it wa- nnt ])os- 
sible for a i)erson descending to .stand upright; and we sliould never have 
dared to descend it but for the hope we had of sustaining ourselves by the 



20 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

Irranchos of the Inishes which were frequent iiixui the ^ide of the moun- 
tahi, and to save life, not sparing our liands, which we had all gashed up 
and bloody, and even the legs and nearly all the body was torn. But 
descending from the mountain, we did not lose our view of the sea, on 
ucconnt of a small wood which was upon a little hill opposite to us ; and in 
order to go to the wood it was requisite that we should traverse a large 
meadow, all mud and cjuagmire, covered with briars and other kind of 
-trange plants; for the stalk was as hard as wood, and tlie leaves i)ricked 
our feet and our hands until the blood came, and being all the while in 
water up to the middle, which redoubled our pain and suffering. Tlie rain 
came down iipon us in such manner from heaven, that we were during all 
that time between two floods; and the further we advanced, the deejicr we 
found tlbe water. 

"And then, tliinking that the last period of our lives had come, we all 
embraced each other, and with a common imi>ulse we commenced to sigh 
and crj' to the Lord, accusing our sins and recognizing the weight of His 
judgment upon us. 'Alas I Lord,' said we, ' wliat are we but jioor worms 
of the earth? Our souls, weakened by grief, surrender themselves into 
Thy hands. Oh, Father of Mercj' and God of Love, deliver us from this 
pain of death! Or if Thou wilt that in this d&sert we shall draw our la.st 
breath, assist us so that death, of all tilings the most terrible, shall have no 
advantage over us, but that we may remain firm and stable in the sense of 
Thy favor and good-will, which we have too often experienced in the cause 
of Thy Christ to give way to tlie spirit of Satan, the spirit of despair and 
of distrust; for if we die, we will protest now before Thy Majesty, that we 
would die unto Thee, and that if we live, it may be to recoiuit Thy won- 
ders in the midst of the assembly of Thy servants.' Our prayers con- 
cluded, we marched with great dilKculty straight towards the wood, when 
we came to a great river, which ran in the midst of this meadow; the 
■ channel was sufficiently narrow, but very deep, and ran with great force, 
as thougli all the iield ran toward the sea. This was another addition to 
our anguish, for there was not one of our men who would dare to under- 
take to cross over by swimming. But in this confusion f)f our tlioughts, 
as to wliat manner to pass over, I bethought myself of the wood which we 
had left behind us. After exhorting my comrades to patience ajid a con- 
tinued trust in the Lord, I returned t-o the wood and cut a long pole with 
-the good-size clasp-knife which remained in my hand from the liour the 
■fort was taken ; and I returned to the others, wlio awaited me in great per- 
^plexity. "Now, then, comrades,' said T, 'let us see if God, l)y means of 
this stick, will not give us some help to accomplish our path.' Then wc 
laid the pole upon the water, and each one liy turn taking hold of the end 
of the pole, carried it by hi.s side to the midst of the channel, when losing 
sight of him, we pushed him with sufficient force to the other bank, wlicre 
he drew himself out by the canes and other bushes growing along its bor- 
ders; and by his example wc passed over, one at a time; but it was not 
without great danger, and not without drinking a great deal of salt water, 
in such manner tl.at our hearts were all trembling, and we were as nnicli 
overcome as tliough we had been lialf drowned. After wc had come to 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 21 

ourselves and liad resumed courage, moving on all the time t()\var(ls tlie 
wood, which we had remarked close to sea, the pole was not even needetl 
to pass another creek, which gave us not much less trouble than the first ; 
but by the grace of God we passed it and entered the wood the same even- 
ing, where we passed the night in great fear and trembling, standing about 
against the trees. 

"And, us much as we had lal)(>red, even had it been more, we felt i;i> 
desire to sleep ; for what repose could there be to spirits in such mortal 
affright? Near the break of day, we saw a great beast, like a deer, at fifty 
paces from us, who had a great head, eyes flaming, the ezys lianging, and 
the higher parts elevated. It seemed to us monstrous, because of its gleam- 
ing eyes, wondrously large; but it did not come near us to do us any harm. 

"The day having ai)peared, we went out of the wood and returned 
towards the sea, in which we hoped, after God, as the only means of sav- 
ing our lives ; but we were again cast down and troubled, for we saw before 
us a country of marsh and nuiddy quagmires, ftill of water and covered 
with briars, like that we had pa.ssed the previous day. We marched across 
this .salt marsh ; and in the direction we had to take, we perceived among 
the briars a body of men, whom we at first thought to be enemies, who 
had gone there to cut us off; but upon close observation, they seemed in 
as .sad a plight as ourselves, naked and terrified; and we immediately per- 
ceived that they were our own people. It was Captain Laudonniere, his 
servant-maid, Jacques Morgues of Dieppe (the artist), Francis Duval of 
Rouen, son of him of the iron crown of Rouen, Niguise de la Cratte, Nicli- 
olas the carpenter, the trumpeter of Sieur Laudonniere, and others, who 
all together made the number of twenty-six men. Upon deliberating as 
to what we should do, two of our men mounted to the top of one of the 
tallest trees and discovered from thence one of our vessels, which was that 
of Captain Maillard, to whom they gave a signal, that he might know that 
we were in want of lielp. Thereupon he came towards us with his small 
vessel, but in order to reach the banks of the stream, it was necessary foi 
us to traverse tlie briars and two other rivers similar to tliose which \\i 
passed the i)revious day ; in order to accomplish which, the pole I had cut 
the day before was both useful and necessary, and two otliers which 8r. de 
Laudonniere had provided; and we came pretty netir to the vessel, but our 
hearts failed us from hunger and fatigue, and we should have remained 
where we were unless the sailors liad given us a liand, which aid was very 
oi>portune; and they carried us, one after the other, to the vessel, on board 
of which we were all received well and kindly. They gave us bread and 
water, and we began afterwards, little by little, to recover our strength antl 
vigor — which was a strong reason that we should recognize the goodness of 
the Lord, who had saved us against all hope from an infinity of dangers 
and from death, by which we had been surrounded and a.ssaulted from all 
quarters, to render Him forevermore our thanks and praises. "We thus 
passed the entire night recounting the wonders of the Lord, and consoled 
each other in the assurances of our safety. 

"Daylight having come, Jacques Ribault, Captain of the Pearl, boarded 
us to i-nnfer with us resjiecting what was to be done by us, and what means: 



SJ, THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

we shouid take for the safety of the rest of our men and the vessels. It 
was tlien objected, t!ie small quantity 6f provisions -which we had, our 
strength broken, our munitions and means of defence taken from us, the 
uncertainty as to the condition of our Admiral, and not knowing but that 
he had been shipwrecked oil some coast a long distance from us, or driven 
to a distance by the tempest. 

•■ We thereupon concluded that we could do no better than return to 
France, and were of the opinion that the company should divide into two 
parts — the one remaining on board the Pearl, the other under charge of 
"aptain Maillard. 

"On Friday, the twenty-fifth day of the month of September, we de- 
l)arted from this coast, favored bj' a strong northerly wind, having con- 
cluded to return to France, and after the first day our two ships were so 
far separated that we did not again encounter each other. 

"We proceeded five hundred leagues prosperously, when, one morn- 
ing about sunrise, we were attacked by a Spanish vessel, which we met as 
well as we could, and cannonaded them in such sort that we made them 
subject to our disposal, and liattered them so that the blood was seen to 
overrun the scuppei-s. We held them then as surrendered and defeated ; 
but there was no means of grappling her, on account of the roughness of 
the sea, for in grappling her there would be danger of our striking together, 
which niight have sunk us. She also, satisfied with the affair, left us, joy- 
ful and thanking God that no one of us was wounded or killed in this skir- 
mish except our cook. 

"The rest of our passage was without any rencounter with enemies; 
but we were much troubled by contrary winds, which often threatened to 
cast us on the coast of Spain, which would have been the finishing touch 
to our misfortunes, and the thing of which we had the greatest horror. 
We also ejidured at sea many other things, sucli as cold and hunger; for 
i)e it understood th.at we, who escaped from the land o: Florida, had noth- 
ing else for vestment or equipment, by day or by night, except our shirts 
alone, or some other little rag, which was a small matter of defence from 
the exposure to the weather ; and what was more, the bread which we eat, 
and we eat it very sparingly, was all spoilt and rotten, as well also the 
water itself was all noisome, and of which, besides, we could only have 
for the whole day a single small glass. 

"This bad food was the rea.son, on our landing, that many of us fell 
into divers maladies, whicli carried off many of the men of our company ; 
and we arrived at last, after this perilous and lamentable voyage, at Ro- 
clielle, where we were received and treated verj' humanely and kindly by 
tlie inhaljitants of the country and those of the city, giving us of their 
means to the extent our necessities required; and assisted by their kind- 
ness, we were each enabled to return to his own part of the country."* 

Laudoiiniere'sf narrative speaks more of his own personal 
escape; and that of Le Moyne| refers to this description of Jpe 



*Ternaux Oompans. fHakluyt. j Brevis Narratio 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. A6 

Challeux, very contemptuously aa a carpenter, who succeeding 
badly at his trade, took up that of preaching, but does not deny 
the truth of his narrative. 

Those who separated from their comrades and threw them- 
selves upon the enemy's mercy, are mentioned by the Spanish 
writers; but they. are silent as to the treatment they received. 



24 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER VI. 
SITE OF FORT CAROLINE, AFTERWARDS CALLED SAN MATHEO. 

It might naturally be supposed that a spot surrounded with 
so many thrilling and interesting associations, as the scene of the 
events we have just related, would have been commemorated 
either by tradition or by ancient remains attesting its situation. 
But, in truth, no recognized point now bears the appellation of 
Fort Caroline, and the antiquary can point at this day to no fosse 
or parapet, no crumbling bastion, no ancient helm or buckler, no 
shattered and corroded garniture of war mingled with the bones 
of the dead, as evidencing its position. 

A writer who has himself done more to rescue from oblivion 
the historical romance of the South than any other,* has well 
said, "It will be an employment of curious interest, whenever 
the people of Florida shall happen upon the true site of the set- 
tlement and structure of Laudonniere, to trace out in detail these 
several localities, and fix them for the benefit of posterity. The 
work is scarcely beyond the hammer and chisel of some Old 
Mortality, who has learned to place his affections and fix his 
sympathies upon the achievements of the past." 

With a consciousness of our unfitness to establish absolutely 
a memorial so interesting as the site of Fort Caroline must ever 
l)e, I shall endeavor to locate its position, upon the basis of rea- 
sons entirely satisfactory to myself, and measurably so, I trust, 
to others. 

The account given by Laudonnierre himself, the leader of 
the Huguenots, by whom Fort Caroline was constructed, is as 
follows: After speaking of his arrival at the mouth of the river, 
which had been named the River May by Ribault, who had 
entered it on the first day of May, 1562, and had therefore 
given it that name, he says : 



* W. Gihnore Simnis, Esq. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 25 

"Departing from thence, I had not sailed three leagues up the river, 
still being followed by the Indians, crying still, 'amy,' 'amy,' that is to 
say, friend, but I discovered an hill of meane height, neare which I went 
on land, harde by the tieldes that were sowed with mil, at one corner 
whereof there was an house, built for their lodgings which keep and guard 
the mil. «• « * * •;•;■ -s Now was I determined to searche- 
out the qualities of the hill. Therefore I went right to the toppe tliereof ; 
where we found nothing else but cedars, palms, and bay trees of so sover- 
eign odor that Bahue smelleth not more sweetly. The trees were environed 
around about with vines bearing grapes, in such quantities that the num- 
ber would suffice to make the place habitable. Besides tlie fertilitie of the 
soyle f(jr vines, one may see mesquine wreathed about the trees in great 
quantities. Toucliing tiie pleasure of the place, the sea may be .seen plain 
enough from it; and more than six great leagues otf, towards the River 
Belle, a man may behold the meadows, divided asunder into isles and 
islets, enterlacing one another. Briefly, the place is so pleasant, that those 
which are melancholicke, would l)e inforced to change their humor. * * 

" Our fort was built in forn\ of a triangle. The side towards the west, 
which was towards the land, was inclosed with a little trench and raised 
witii turf made in the form of a battlement, nine feet liigh ; the other side,, 
which was towards the river, was enclosed with a pali.sade of planks of 
timber, after the manner that Gabions are made; on the south line, there 
was a kind of bastion, within which I caused an house for the munition 
to be made. It was all Iniilded with fagots and sand, saving about two or 
three foote high, with turfes whereof the battlements were made. In the 
middest, I caused a great court to he made of eighteen paces long, and the 
same in breadth. In the middest whereof, on the one side, drawing towards 
the south, I builded a corps de garde, and an liouse on the other side to- 
wards the north. * * » * One of the sides that inclosed my court, 
which I made very faire and large, reached unt<j the grange of my muni- 
tions ; and on the other side, towards the river, was mine own lodgings, 
round which were galleries all covered. The principal doore of my lodging 
was in the middest of the great place, and the other was towarde the river. 
A good distance from the fort I built an oven." 

Jacob Le Moyne, or Jacques Morgues, as he is sometimes 
called, accompanied the expedition ; and his Brcvis Narratio 
contains two plates, representing the commencement of the con- 
struction of Fort Caroline, and its appearance when completed. 
The latter represents a much more finished fortification than 
could possibly have been constructed, but may be taken as a 
correct outline, I presume, of its general appearance. 

Barcia, in his account of its capture, describes neither its 
shape nor appearance, but mentions the parapet nine feet high, 
and the munition house and store house. 



26 THE HISTOKY AND ANTIQUITIES 

From the account of Laudonnierre and Le Moyne, it was 
situated near the river, on the slope or nearly at the foot of a 
hill.* Barcia speaks of its being behind a hill, and of descend- 
ing towards it. The clerical-carpenter, Challeux, speaks of being 
able, after his escape, to look down from the hill he was on, into 
the court of the fort itself, and seeing the massacre of the French. 
As he was flying from the fort towards the sea, and along the 
river, and as the Spaniards came from a southeast direction, the 
fort must have been on the westerly side of a hill, near the river. 

The distance is spoken of as less than three leagues by Lau- 
donnierre. Hawkins and Ribault say the fort was not visible 
from the mouth of the river. It is also incidentally spoken of in 
Barcia as being two leagues from the bar. De Challeux, in the 
narrative of his escape, speaks of the distance as being about two 
leagues. In the account given of the expedition of De Gourgues, 
it is said to be, in general terms, about one or two leagues above 
the forts afterwards constructed on each side of the mouth of the 
river ; and it is also mentioned in De Gourgues, that the fort 
was at the foot of a hill, near the water, and could be overlooked 
from the hill. The distance from the mouth of the river, and 
the nature of the ground where the fort was built, are thus made 
sufficiently definite to enable us to seek a location which shall 
fulfill both these conditions. It is hardly necessary to remark 
that there can be no question but that the fort was located on 
the south or easterly side of the river, as the Spaniards marched 
by land from St. Augustine in a northwesterly direction to Fort 
Caroline. 

The river St. Johns is one of the largest rivers, in point of 
width, to be found in America, and is more like an arm of the 
sea than a river ; from its mouth for a distance of fifteen miles, it 
is spread over extensive marshes, and there are few points where 
the channel touches the banks of the river. At its mouth it is 
oompai'atively narrow, but immediately extends itself over wide- 
wSpread marshes ; and the first headland or shore which is washed 
by the channel is a place known as St. John's Bluff. Here the 
river runs closely along the shore, making a bold, deep channel 



*Laudonnierre says, ^''joignant la montagney 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 27 

close up to the bank. The hind rises abruptly on one side into 
a hill of moderate height, covered with a dense growth of pine, 
cedar, etc. This hill gently slopes to the banks of the river, and 
runs oil' to the southwest, where, at the distance of a quarter of a 
mile, a creek discharges itself into the river, at a place called 
" the Shipyard " from time immemorial. 

I am not aware that any remains of Fort Caroline, or any 
old remains of a fortress, have ever been discovered here ; but it 
must be recollected that this fort was constructed of sand and 
pine trees, and that three hundred years have passed away, with 
their storms and tempests, their rains and destructive influences 
— a period sufficient to have destroyed a work of much more 
durable character than sandy entrenchments and green pine 
stakes and timbers. Moreover, it is highly probable, judging 
from present appearances, that the constant abrasion of the banks 
still going on has long since worn away the narrow spot where 
stood Fort Caroline. It is also to be remarked, that as there is 
no other hill, or high land, or place where a fort could have been 
built, between St. John's Bluff and the mouth of the river, so it 
is also the fact that there is no point on the south side of the 
river where the channel touches high land, for a distance by wa- 
ter of eight or ten miles above St. John's Bluif\ 

The evidence in favor of the location of Fort Caroline at St. 
John's Bluff is, I think, conclusive and irresistible, and accords 
in all ptoints with the descriptions given as to distance, topogra- 
phy, and points of view. 

It is within the memory of persons now living, that a con- 
siderable orange grove and somewhat extensive buildings, which 
existed at this place, then called San Vicente, have been washed 
into the river, leaving at this day no vestiges of their existence. 
It has been occupied as a Spanish fort within fifty years ; yet so 
rapid has been the work of time and the elements, that no re- 
mains of such occupation are now to be seen. 

The narratives all speak of the distance from the mouth of 
the river as about two leagues ; and in speaking of so short a 
distance the probability of exactness is much greater than when 
dealing with longer distances. 

As to the spot itself, it presents all the natural features men- 
tioned by Laudonnierre ; and it requires but a small spice of en- 



28 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

thusiasm and romance that it be recognized as a "goodlie and 
pleasante spotte," by those who might like the abundance of the 
wild grapes and the view of the distant salt meadows, with their 
"isles and islets, so pleasante that those which are melancholicke 
would be inforced to change their humor." 

It is but proper, however, to say, that at a plantation, known 
as Newcastle, there is a high range of ground, and upon this 
high ground the appearance of an old earth-work of quadrangu- 
lar form; but this point is distant some six leagues from the 
mouth of the river, is flanked by a deep bay or marsh to the 
southeast, and the work is on top of the hill and not at its foot, 
is quadrangular and not triangular, and is a considerable distance 
from the water. These earthworks, I am satisfied, are Spanish 
or English remains of a much later period. 

By examining a map of the St. John's river, the first pro- 
jecting land on the south side, lying east of the second township 
line marked from the coast, will be found nearly to indicate the 
j)oint known as St. John's Bluff. On the eastern face the bluff is 
quite high and precipitous — being possibly the "brow of the 
mountain" mentioned by De Challeux — and immediately beyond 
is a deep indentation of the shore-line of several miles in cii'cuit, 
within which is an immense tract of sea-marsh, interspersed with 
small islands, and cut up by narrow channels. Through this 
the fugitives may be supposed to have crossed, and, reaching the 
high lands which hem in the marsh near the mouth of the river, 
were enabled to view the vessels which offered them rescue. 
About the year 1856 a handful of small copper coins were acci- 
dentally found near the eastern margin of this marsh, in the 
rear of what is now known as Mayport Mill. Some few were at 
first found on the ground, as if accidentally exposed, and upon 
removing the earth for a slight depth, the remainder were dis- 
covered. They were distributed among several gentlemen in 
Florida, and Mr. Buckingham Smith, at that time and more 
recently, made the history of the coins a subject of especial in- 
quiry in Spain. 

Just before putting the second edition of this work to press, 
the following letter was received by the publisher of this volume, 
and is given as matter of interest in connection with the locality 
referred to: 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 29 

Madrid, August 15, 1868. 
My Dear Sir: — I brought with inc from Florida, as I proposed, three 
copper coins of those found witli others of the same st)rt many years ago, 
on the St. Johns river near tlie old site of Fort Caroline, in what the 
French three centuries ago called the Vale of Laudonniere, that I might 
have them examined in Europe. There were none of the sort in the Brit- 
ish ^Museum, with which they might he compared, and in the Bibliothiquc 
Imperial I could only learn that they were Spanish. On my arrival here 
I gave them for inspection to Senor Bermudez, a long time in charge of 
the national collection of such like antiquities, second only in extent and 
value to that of Paris; and showed them also to other of my friends 
learned in numismatics. The work of A. Heiss, now making its appearance 
in numbers, with the title Description General de las moitedas Uispano — 
C'/iristianas desde la invasion de los Arahes, lias been also consulted, and this 
is the amount of all the conclusions, the inscriptions on each coin being 
Jiearly the same : 

t KAROLVS.ET.IOANNA RE. 

Two II in the midst, with crowns upon them; to the right P, to the left S 
in the middle a square point. 

RKVERSO : 

Same — same — same — REGIS. 
A Y in the middle, crowned ; to the right IIII, to the left F. 

They were struck for Dona .Tuana and Carlos I, Empr. Cliarles V, be- 
tween the years 1510 and 1555. The Y is supposed to refer to Ysabel ; the 
double I to Joanna I, or may be to the columns of Hercules, and the 
crowns upon them to those of Castilla and Aragon. On later silver coins, 
not so rude, the colunnis are placed with the words ])lus nltra, as you may 
have ol)served on a Si)anish dollar. The IIII (on some 4) means four mar- 
avedises, the value of which have varied: at j^resent 25 of these would be 
the value of a real. These coins arc uncommon ; in good i)reservation, 
very rare. The curiosity so many of us have had for a number of years. 
about these matters, I believe is at last satisfied. 

I have visited the town of Aviles, a league from the Bay of Biscay, 
whence Pedro Mcnendez came, and brought his tleet to Florida, three cen- 
turies ago. I saw his tomb, and nt)t far otf the chapel of the family of one 
of his companions. There is no stranger anywhere to be heard of in all 
that country; everything is intensely and old Spanish in every aspect. 
Going home late one evening, I was accosted by a native in good English. 
He said tlic town was rarely visited — three or four Englishmen, within his 
memory, had passed through, and he supposed me to be the first person 
from the United States who had ever been there. I told him I came from 
Florida, and, though ratlicr late, was returning the visit of Mcnendez to 
St. Augustine. 

The estate of this old colonist is in the house of the Count of Canale- 
jas, held by the Manpiis of San Estevan, who is also by marriage the Count 
of Ilevilla Gigedo. I called on him at his country seat in Dania, and, de- 
taining mc to si>end the day with him, gave orders to have hi.s family pic- 



30 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

tures and palace shown to me at Gijon, and his papers at a residence in 
Oviedo. Among the docnnients is a valnable one for writing a life of Me- 
nendez. It is a drait for a letter in his own hand, directed to his nephew, 
Governor of Florida, in which he expresses his wish to be with him and 
away from bnsiness. He speaks of the "invincible armada" which he 
had been appointed to command, and gives the number of his sliijis. This 
probably was the last thing he ever wrote, dated ten days before he died, 
as it is known that he died on the ninth day of liis sickness. Of course I 
have a copy to show you. 

Spain has greatly changed within tlie last eight years — impoverished 
itself, tlie people say, with improvements. The railroads traverse most 
part, are well laid, duraljle, and the service good. The ancient monumentis 
have begun to be cared for, are repaired, and in the charge of a commission 
of the government. 

Give my best regards to friends about you, and believe me, 

Truly yours, BUCKINGHAM SMITH. 

Mr. Columbus Drew, Jacksonville, Fla. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 31 



CHAPTER VII. 

MENENDEZ'S RETURN TO ST. AUGUSTINE — SHIPWRECK OF 

RIBAULT— ]\IASSACRE OF PART OF HIS COMMAND— 

A. D. 150.5. 

After an ineffectual attempt to induce tho.«e in the small 
vessels of the French to surrender, failing in this, the General 
concluded to return to St. Augustine, and send two of his vessels 
to the mouth of the river to intercept them. 

Some of the fugitives from the fort fled to the Indians ; and 
ten of these were given up to the Spaniards, to be butchered in 
cold blood, says the French account— to be sent back to France, 
says the Spanish chronicle. 

The 24th September being the day of St. Matthew, the 
name of the fort was changed to that of San Matheo, by which 
name it was always subsecjuently called by the Spaniards; and 
the name of St. Matthew was also given by them to the river, 
now called St. Johns, on which it is situated. 

The Spaniards proceeded at once to strengthen the fortress, 
deepening and enlarging the ditch, and raised and strengthened 
the ramparts and walls in such manner, says the boastful Mendoza, 
"that if the half of all France had come to attack it, they could 
not have disturbed it;" a boast upon which the ea.sy concpiest of 
it by De Gourgues, three years subsequently, affords an amusing 
commentary. They also constructed, subsequently, two small 
forts at the mouth of the river, one on each side, which probably 
were located the one at Batten Island and the other at Mayport. 

Leaving three hundred soldiers as a garrison under his son; 
in-law, De Valdez, Master of the Camp, who was now appointed 
Governor of the fort, Menendez marched for St. Augustine, be- 
ginning now to feel considerable anxiety lest the French fleet, 
escaping from the tempest, might return and visit upon his own 
garrison at St. Augustine, the fate of Fort Caroline. He took 
with him upon his return but fifty soldiers, and owing to the 



-32 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

swollen waters, found great difficulty in retracing his route. 
AVlien within a league of St. Augustine, he allowed one of the 
soldiers to go forward to announce his victory and safe return. 

The garrison at St. Augustine had been in great anxiety 
respecting their leader, and from the accounts given by those 
who had deserted, they had feared the total loss of the expedition. 
The worthy Chaplain thus describes the return of Menendez : 

"The same day, being Monday, we .saw a man coming, crying out 
loudly. I myself was the tirst to run to him for the news. He embraced 
me with trans})ort, crying ' Victory ! victory! The French fort is ours.' I 
promised him the present which the bearer of good news deserves, and 
gave him the best in my power. 

"At the hour of vespers our good General arrived, with fifty foot sol- 
diers, very much fatigued. As soon as I learned that he was coming, I ran 
home and put on a new soutain, tlie best which I had, and a surjilice, and 
going out with a crucifix in my hand, I went forward to receive him; and 
he, a gentleman and a good Christian, before entering, kneeled, and all his 
followers, and returned thanks to the Lord for the great favor.s which he 
had received. My comj^anions and myself marched in front in procession, 
so that we all returned with the greatest demonstrations of joy." 

When about to dispatch the two vessels in his harljor to the 
St. John's, to cut off the French vessels he had left there, he was 
informed that two sail had already been seen to pass the l^ar, 
supposed to contain the French fugitives. 

Eight days after the capture of Fort Caroline, a fire broke 
out in the quarters of St. Augustine, which destroyed much 
treasure and provisions, and the origin of Avhich was doubtful, 
whether to be ascribed to accident or design. Much dissatisfac- 
tion prevailed among the officers and soldiers, and the fire was 
looked upon with pleasure by some, as having a tendency to 
hasten their departure from a spot which offered few temptations 
or rewards, compared to Mexico or Peru. 

On the very day of Menendez's return, a Frenchman was 
discovered by a fishing i^arty on Anastasia Island, who, being 
taken, said he was one of a party of eighteen, sent in a small 
vessel, some days before, to reconnoitre the Spanish position ; that 
they had been unable to keep the sea, and had been thrown 
ashore, about four leagues below, at the mouth of a river; that 
the Indians attacked and killed three of their number, and they 
thereupon escaped. 



OF >ST. AUGUSTINE. FLORIDA. 33 

Meuendez dispatched a captain and fifty men, to get off the 
vessel and capture any of the French who might be found. On 
their arrival at the phice, they found that all the French had 
been killed by the Indians ; but they succeeded in getting off the 
vessel. Menenclez, feeling uneasy in reference to their encounter 
with the Indians, had followed on after the expedition, in com- 
pany with the worthy Chaplain, to whom his promenade among 
the briars, vines, prickly cedars, chaparral, and prickly pears of 
Anastasia, seems to have been a true vi<i dolorosa. 

Upon their arrival, they found a considerable body of French 
upon the south side of an inlet, whose fires indicated their position. 

The four vessels of Ribault, which had gone in pursuit of 
the Spaniards at St. Augustine, had been overtaken by the storm, 
and after keeping to sea with incredible effort, had been finally 
driven ashore upon the shoals of Canaveral,* with but little loss 
of life but a total loss of everything else ; they were thus thrown 
on shore without shelter from the elements, famished with hun- 
ger, borne down by disappointment, and utterly dispirited and 
demoralized. They were consumed, also, by the most painful 
uncertainty. Marching to the northward along shore, they dis- 
covered a skiff, and resolved to send a small number of persons 
in it, to make their way by sea to Fort Caroline, to bring succor 
to them from there. This boat succeeded in reaching the St. 
John's, where they were informed, by friendly Indians, of the fate 
which liad befallen the fort ; and, subsequently, they fell in with 
a Frenchman who had escaped, who related to them the whole 
disaster. Upon this they concluded to seek their own safety 
among the friendly Indians of St. Helena, rather than to be the 
useless bearers of the tidings of their misfortunes to their com- 
panions in arms. 

There are several accounts of the sad fate which beiel thi' 
followers of Ribault, the massacre of whom has been perpetuated 
by the memorial name given to its scene, " the bloody river of 
Matanzas."' the ebb and flow of whose recurring tides for three 
hundred vears have failed to wash out the record of blood which 



••■ Canaveral, whoiv Kihault was wrockeil, must have been soiuu point 
iiortli of Mo.squito Inlet, and not the cape now bearing that name, as lie 
could not have crossed Mos([uito Inlet in his marrh to Matanzas. 



34 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

has associated this massacre of the Huguenots with the darkest 
scenes of earth's history. In consequence of the rank and num- 
ber of the victims, the event produced various and somewhat con- 
tradictory accounts ; but all stamped with a seal of reprobation 
and execration the act and the actors, without reference to creed 
or nationality. Challeux relates instances of cruel barbarity 
added to the atrocity of slaughter itself; and others, it appears, 
had given other versions, all in different degree pointing the finger 
of historic justice to mark and commemorate the crime against 
humanity. 

The Spanish historian, Barcia, aims to counteract this gen- 
eral condemnation, of which in his own language he says : " These 
calumnies, repeated in so many qiiarters, have sullied the fame 
of the Adelantado, being exaggerated by the heretics, and con- 
sented to by the Catholics, so that even the Father Felix Briot, 
in his annals, says that he caused them to be killed contrary to 
the faith which he had given them ; which is altogether a false- 
hood, for the Adelantado did not give his word, nor would he, 
when asked, give it, to spare their lives, although they were 
willing to pay him for doing so ; nor in the capture of Fort Car- 
oline did he do more than has been related." And such is the ac- 
count given by Doctor Salis de las Meras, brother-in-law to Don- 
na Maria de Salis, wife of the Adelantado, who was present, and 
who, relating the punishment of the heretics, and the manner in 
which it was accomjilished, says: 

"The Aflelantatlo occupied liiiuself in fortifying Iiis settlenieut at St. 
Augustine, as well as he could, to defend it from the French fleet, if they 
sliould attack it. Upon the following day some Indians came and hy signs 
informed them that four leagues distant there were a large numher of Chris- 
tians, who were unable to cross an arm of the sea or strait, which is a river 
upon the inner side of an inlet, which they were obliged to cross in order to 
come to St. Augustine. The Adelantado sent thither forty soldiers about 
dusk, and arrived about midnight near the inlet, where he commanded a 
halt until morning, and, leaving his soldiers concealed, he ascended a tree ■ 
to see what was the state of matters. He discovered many persons on the 
other side of the river, and their standards ; and to prevent their passing 
over, he directed his men to exhibit themselves towards the shore, so tliat 
it might be supposed that he had with him a large force; and when they 
were discovered, a French soldier swam over, and said that the persons be- 
yond the river were F'renchmen, that they had been wrecked in a storm, 
but had all saved their lives. The Adelantado asked what French they 
were? He answered, that they were two hundred of the jicople under 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. or> 

cominand of Jean Ribault, Viceroy and Captain-deneral of tliis coun- 
try for the king of the Frenfli. He asked again, if they were Catholics or 
Lutlierans? It was replied that they were all Lutherans, of the new relig- 
ion ; all of which was previously well known to the Adelantado. when 
he encountered their fleet with his vessels ; and the women and children 
whom he had spared when he took their fort, had also so inf(»rmed him; 
and he had found in the fort when he took it, six trunks tilled with books, 
well bound and gilt; all of which were of the new sect, and from which 
they did not say mass, but preached their Lutheran doctrines every even- 
ing; all of which books he directed to be burnt, not 8]>aring a single one. 

" The Adelantado then asked hilii why he had come over? He said 
he had been sent over by his Captain, to see what people they were. The 
(ieneral asked if he wished to return? He said, 'Yes, but he desirc<l to 
know what people they were.' This man spoke very plainly, for lie was a 
(tascon of San Juan de 8uz. 'Then tell him,' said the Adelantado, 'that 
it is the Viceroy and Captain-(ieneral of tliis country for tlie king. Don 
L'hili)) ; and that his name is Pedro Aicnendez, and that he is here with 
some of his soldiery to ascertain wliat people those were, for lie had been 
informed the day before that they were there, and the lumr at which they 
came."" 

"The Frencli soldier went oxer with his message, and iiinnediately re- 
turned, saying, 'that if they would pledge faith to his Captain and to four 
other gentlemen, they would like to come and treat with him;' and they 
desired the loan of a bnat, which tlie (ieneral had directed to l)nng some 
provisions to tlic river. Tlic General instructed the messenger to say to 
Ins (^aptain, 'that he might come over securely nnder the i)le(lge dI' hi.- 
word,' and then sent over for them the boat ; and they crossed over. Tlic 
.\delantado received them very well, witli only ten of bis followers; tlic 
others he directed to stay some distance off among some bushes, so thju 
their number might appear to be greater than it was. (»nc i>t' tlie Frciicb- 
men announced himself as Captain of these peo])le; and that in a great 
•^torm tlicy had hjst four galleons, and other vessels of the king of France. 
within a distance of twenty leagues of each other; and that these were the 
]>eople from on board of one ><lii]>, and that they desired they woiilil let 
them have a boat for this arm of the sea, and for another four leagues 
hence, which was at 8t. Augustitie; that they desired to go to a fort which 
they held twenty leagues from tlicre. It was the same fort which .Meneii- 
dez had taken. The Adelantado asked them ' if they were Catholics or 
Lutherans?' He replied, 'that they were all of the New Pieligion.' Then 
theAtlelantado said to them, ' (ientlemen, your fort is taken and itsi)eoplt' 
destroyed, except the women, and ehildren under tifteen years of age ; and 
that you may be assured of this, among the soldiers who ar(> here there 
are many things, and also there are here two Frenchmen whom 1 have 
brought with me, who said they were Catholics. Hit down here ami eat, 
and I will send the two Frenchmen to you, as also the things which some 
of my soldiers have taken from the fort, in order that you may be satisfied.' 

"The Adelantado having sjioken thus, directed food to be given to 
tlieiii, and sent the two Frenchmen to them, and many tliim:s wliicb the 
soldiers had l)rou<;-ht from the fort, that they might see theiii, and then re- 



36 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

tired liim.self, ti) cat with his own jit'ople; and an Iioiir afterwards, when 
he saw that the Freneh had eaten, lie went where they were and asked if 
tliey were satisfied of the truth of wliat he had told them. Thej' said they 
were, and desired that for a consideration, he should give them vessels and 
ships' stores, that they might return to France. The Adelantado an- 
swered, 'that he would do so with great pleasure if they were good Catho- 
lics, or if he had the ships for them; but he had not the vessels, having 
.sent two to St. Matteo (Fort Caroline), the one to take the artillery they 
had captured, and the French women and children, to 8t. Domingo, and 
to obtain provisions. The other had to go upon business of his Majesty to 
other parts. 

" The French Captain replied, ' that lie should grant to all their lives, 
and that they should remain with him luitil they could obtain shipj>ing 
for France, since they were not at war, and the kings of Sjiain and of 
France were brothers and friends.' The Adelantado said, ' that was true, 
and Catholics and friends he would favor, believing that he would serve 
both kings in doing so ; but as to themselves, being of the new sect, he 
held them for enennes, and he would wage war upon them even to blood 
and to tire; and that he would pursue them with all cruelty wherever hv 
should encounter them, in whatever sea or land where he should be Vice- 
roy or Captain-General for his king ; and that he would go and plant the 
holy faith in this land, that the Indians might be enlightened and brought 
to the knowledge of the Holy Catholic Faith of Jesus Christ our Saviour, 
as taught and announced liy the Roman Church. That if they wished to 
surrender their standards and their arms, and throw themselves ujion his 
mercy, they might do so, for fie n'onld do ivith them ivhat God .should of /</« 
(/race direct; or, they could do as they might deem proper; that other 
treaty or friendship they should not have from him.' Tlie French Captain 
j-eplied, that he could not then conclude any other matter with the Ade- 
lantado. He went over in the boat, saying, that he went to relate what 
hail ])assed, and to agree upon what should be done, and within two hours 
lie would return with an answer. The Adelantado said, 'They could do 
as seemed be.st to them, and he would wait for them.' Two hours passe<l. 
when the .same French Captain returned, with those who had accompanied 
him previously, and said to the General, 'that there were many peojile of 
family and nobles among them, and that they would give fifty thousand 
ducats of ransom, if he would spare all their lives." He answered, 'that 
although^he was a poor soldier, he could not be governed by selfish inter- 
ests, and if he were to be merciful and lenient, he desired to be so without 
the suspicion of other motives.' The French Captain returned to urge the 
matter. ' Do not deceive yoirrselves," said the Adelantado, ' for if Heaven 
were to join to earth, I wt)uld do no otherwise than I have said.' The 
French officer then going towards where his people stood, said, that in ac- 
cordance with that understanding he would return shortly with an answer ; 
and within half an hfiur he returned and placed in the boat the standards, 
seventy arquebuses, twenty pistols, a quantity of swords and shields, and 
some helmets and breast-plates ; and the Captain came to where the Gen- 
(iral stood, and said that all the P>encli force there submitted themselves to 
his clemencv, and surrendered to him their standards and their arms. The 



OF ST. AU(;UST1NE, FLORIDA. 6 1 

Adolantado then directed tAventy iscildiers to go in the huat and l)ring tlie 
French, ten by ten. Tlie river was narrow and easy to pass, and he di- 
rected Diego Flores de VaUles, Admiral of the Fleet, to receive the stan- 
dards and the arms, and to go in tlie boat and see that the soldiers did not 
maltreat them. The Adelantadcj then withdrew from the shore, abonttwo 
bowshots, behind a hillock of sand, within a copse of bushes, where the 
persons who came in the boat which brought over the French, could not 
sei' ; and then said to tlic I'^rencli Captain and the other eiglit Frcnclinicn 
who were there with him, ' (ientlemen, 1 have l)ut few men with mi', and 
tbcy are not very etitective, and you are numerous ; and, going unrestrained, 
it would be an easy thing to take satisfaction upon our men for those whom 
we destroyed when we took the fort; and thus it is necessary that you 
should march with liands tied behind, a distance of four leagues from licre 
where I have my camp.' The French replied 'that they would do so ;' and 
tliey had their hands tied strongly behind their backs with the match 
rojjcs of the soldiers; and the ten who canu' in the boat did not see those 
who had their hands tied, until they came up to the same jilace, for it was 
so arranged, in order tliat the French who had not passed the river, should 
not luiderstand what was being done, and might not be offended, and thus 
were tied two hundred and eight Frenchmen. Of whom the Adelantado 
asked that if any among them were Catholics they should declare it. Eight 
said that they were Catholics, and were separated from the others and placed 
in a boat, that they might go by the river to St. Augustine ; and all the rest 
replied '• that they were of the new religion, and held themselves to be very 
good Chistians ; that this was their faith and no other.' The Adelantado 
tlien gave the order to march with them, having first given theni meat and 
drink as each ten arrived, Ijefore Ijeing tied, which was done before the suc- 
ceeding ten arrived ; and he directed one of his Captains who marched with 
the vanguard, that at a certain distance from there he would observe a mark 
made by a lance, which he carried in his hand, which would be in a sandy 
place that tliey would be obliged to pass in going on their Avay towards the 
fort of St. Augustine, and that there the prisoners should all be destroyed ; 
and he gave the one in command of the rearguard the same orders ; and it 
was done accordingly ; when, leaving there all of the dead, they returned 
the same night, before dawn, to the fort at St. Augustine, although it was 
already sundown when the men were killeil."* 

Sucli is the second part of this sad and bloody ^ragedy ; 
which took place at the Matanzas Inlet, about eighteen miles 
south of the city of St. Augustine, and at the southerly end of 
Anastasia Island. The account we have given, it must be borne 
in mind, is that of De Solis, the brother-in-law and apologist of 
Menendez , but even under his extenuating hand the conduct of 
Menendez was that of one deaf to the voice of humanity, and 
exulting in cold-blooded treachery, dealing in vague generalities 

■■■■ Barcia, p. 87. 



38 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

intended to deceive, while affording a shallow apology for the 
actor. A massacre in cold blood of poor shipwrecked, famished 
men, prisoners yielding themselves to an expected clemency, tied 
up like sheep, and butchered by poignard blows from behind, 
shocked alike the moral sense of all to whom the tale came, with- 
out regard to faith or flag. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 30 



CHAPTER VIII. 

FATE OK RIBAULT AND HIS FOLLOWERS— BLOODY MASSACRE 
AT MATANZAS— l;M]ri. 

The first detachment of the French whom Menendez met 
and so utterly destroyed, constituted the complement of a single 
vessel, which had been thrown ashore at a more northerly point 
than the others. All these vessels were wrecked between Mos- 
quito Inlet and Matanzas. 

Of the fate of the main detachment, under Ribault in person, 
we have the following account, as related by the same apologist, 
the chaplain De Solis: 

"On the next (lay following the return of the Adclantado at St. Augu.s- 
tine, the same Indians who came before returned, and said that 'great many 
more Christians were at the same part, of the river as the otliers had been.' 
The Adelantado concluded that it must be Jean Ribault, the General of the 
Lutherans at sea and on land, whom they called the Viceroy of this coun- 
try for the king of France. He immediately went, with one hundred and 
fifty men in good order, and reached the place were he had lodged the first 
time, at about midnight ; and at dawn lie pushed forward to the river, 
with his men drawn out, and when it was daylight he saw, two bow-shots 
from the other bank of the river, many persons, and a raft made to cross 
over the people, at the place where the Adelantado stood. But immediately, 
when the French saw the Adelantado and his people, they took arms, and 
displayed a royal standard and two standards of companies, sounding fifes 
and drums in very good order, and showing a front of battle to the Adelan- 
tado ; who, having ordered his men to sit down and take their breakfast, 
so that they made no demonstration of any change, he himself walked uj) 
and down the shore, with his admiral and two other captains, paying no at- 
tention to the movement and demonstration of battle of the French ; so that 
they, observing this, halted and the fifes and the drums ceased, while witli 
a bugle note they unfurled tlie white flag of peace, which was returned by 
the Adelantado. A Frenchman placed himself upon the raft, and cried 
with a loud voice that he wished to cross over, but that owing to the force 
of the current he could not bring the raft over, and desired an Indian canoe 
which was there to be sent over. The Adelantado said he could swim over 
for it, under pledge of his word. A French sailor immediately came over, 
but the General would not permit him to speak with him, but directed him 
to take the canoe, and go and tell his Captain, that inasmuch as lie called 
for a conference, if lie desired anything he should send over some one to 



40 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

ooniiniuiicute with liiiu. The same sailor inunediately came with a gentle- 
man, who said he was the sergeant-niajcjr of Jean Rihault, Viceroy and 
(kptain General of this land for the king ^f France, and tliat he had sent 
liini to say, that they had hecn wrecked with their fleet in a great storm, 
and that he had with him three hnndred and fifty French ; that they wislicd 
to go to a fort which they held, twenty leagues from there; tliat they 
wished the favor of boats, to pass this river, and the other four leagiies 
further on, and that he desired to know if they were Spaniards, and under 
what leader they served. 

" The Adelantado answered him, that they were Spaniards, and that 
the Captain under whom they served was the person now addressing liiiii, 
and was called Pedro Meiiendez. That he shoiild tell his General that tlie 
fort which he held twenty leagues from there had been taken by him, and 
he had destroyed all the French, and the rest who had come with the fleet, 
because they were badly governed ; and then, passing thence to where the 
dead bodies of the Frenchmen whom he had killed still lay unburied, 
l)ointed them out to him and said, therefore lie could not permit them to 
pass the river to their fort. 

" The sergeant, with an unmoved countenance, and without any ap- 
pearance of uneasiness on account of what the Adelantado had said, replied, 
that if he would have the goodness to send a gentleman of liis party, to say 
to the French General, that they might negotiate with safety, the people 
were much exhausted, and the General would come over in a boat which 
was there. The Adelantado replied, 'Farewell, comrade, and bear the 
answer which they sliall give you ; and if your General desires to come and 
treat with me, I give my word that he sliall come and return securely, 
with four or six of his people whoni he may select for his advisors, tliat he 
may do whatever he may conclude to be best.' 

" The French gentlenum then departed with this message. Within 
half an hour he returned to accept the assurance the Adelantado had given, 
and to obtain the boat ; which the Adelantado was unwilling to let him 
have, but said he could use the canoe, which was safe, and the strait was 
narrow ; and he again went back with this message. 

" Immediately Jean Ribault came over, whom the Adelantado rei-eived 
very well, with other eight gentlemen, who had come with him. They 
were all gentlemen of rank and position. He gave them a collation, and 
would have given them food if they had desired. Jean Ribault with much 
humility, thanked him for his kind reception, and said that to raise their 
spirits, much depressed by the sad news of the death of their comrades, 
they would partake only of the wine and condiments, and did not wish any- 
thing else to eat. Then after eating, Jean Ribault said, ' that he saw that 
those his companions were dead, and that he could not be mistaken if he 
desired to be.' Then the Adelantado directed the soldiers to bring each 
one whatever he had taken from the fort ; and he saw so many things that 
he knew for certain that it was taken ; although he knew this before, yet 
he could not wholly believe it, because among his men there was a French- 
jnan by the name of Barbero, of those whom the Adelantado had ordered 
to be destroyed with the rest, and was left for dead with the others, having 
with the first thrust he received fallen down and made as though he were 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 41 

(lead, and when they left there he had passed over by swimming, to Ri- 
bault ; and this Barbero held it for certain that the Adelantado had deceived 
them in saying that the fort was taken, it not being so; and thns until 
now he had sujiposed. The Adelantado said that in order with more cer- 
tainty to believe this and satisfy himself he might converse apart with the 
two Frenchmen who were present, to satisfy liini better; Avliich he did. 

" Immediately Jean Riljault came towards the Adelantado and said, 'it 
wa< c'jrtain tliat all wliich he had told him was true; but that what had 
liapiii'iicil to liim, might liavc happened to the Adelantado; and since 
their kings were brothers, and such great friends, the Adelantado should 
act towards him as a friend, and give him ships and ])rovisions, that he 
iiii.iilit return to France.' 

"Tlie Adelantadi) replicil in tlie same manner that he had done to the 
otiicr Frenchmen, as to what he would do; and that taking it or leaving 
'it, .Jean Ri1)ault could ol>tain nothing further from the Adehuitado. Jean 
Kibault tlien said that he would go and give an account of jnatters to his 
people, for he had among them many of noble blood; and he would return 
or send an answer as to what he would do. 

"Three hours afterwards,' Jean Ribault returned in the can(,)e, and 
said, 'that there were different opinions among his people; that while 
some were willing to yield themselves to his clemency, others were not.' 
The Adelantado replied 'that it mattered but little to him whether they 
all came, or a part, or none at all; that they should do as it pleased them, 
and he would act with the same liberty.' Jean Ribault said to him, 'that 
tlie half of the people who were willing to yield themselves to his clemen- 
cy would pay him a ransom of more than 100,000 ducats; and the other 
half were able to pay more, for there were among them persons of wealth 
and large incomes, who had desired to establish estates in this country.' 
The Adelantado answered him, ' It would grieve me much to lose so great 
and rich a ransom, under the necessity I am under for such aid, to carry 
forward the conquest and settlement of this land, in the name of nry king, 
as is my duty, and to plant here the Holy Evangel.' Jean Ribault consid- 
ered from this, that with the amount they could all give, he might be in- 
duced to spare his own life and that of all the others who were with him; 
and that they might be able to pay more than 200,000 ducats ; and he said 
to tlie Adelantado, ' that he would return with his answer to his people , 
that as it was late, he would take it as a favor if he would be willing to 
wait until the following day, when he would bring their reply as to what 
they would conclude to do.' The Adelantado said, ' Yes, that he would 
wait.' Jean Ribault then went back to his people, it being already sunset. 
In the morning, he returned with the canoe, and surrendered to the Ade- 
lantado two royal standards — the one that of the king of France, the other 
that of the Admiral (Coligny),— and the standards of the company, and a 
sword, dagger, and helmet, gilded very beautifully; and also a shield, a 
pistol, and a commission given him under the high admiral of France, to 
assure to him his title and i)osse.ssions. 

'■ He then said to him, 'that but one hundred and fifty of the three 
inindred and fifty whom he had with him were willing to yield to his 
clemency, and that the others had witlidrawn during the night ; and that 



42 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

they miglit take the boat and bring those who were willing to come over, 
and their arms.' The Adelantado immediately directed the captain, Diego 
Flores Valdes, admiral of the Heet, that he should bring them over as he 
had done the others, ten by ten ; and the Adelantado, taking Jean Ribaiilt 
behind the sand hills, among the bushes where the others had their hands 
tied behind them, he said to these and all the others as he had done before, 
that they had four leagues to go after night, and that he could not permit 
them to go unbound ; and after they were all tied, he asked if they were 
('atholics or Lutherans, or if any of them desired to make confession. 

"Jean Ribault replied, 'that all who were there were of the new 
religion,' and he then began to repeat the psalm, 'Bomine! Memento Mei '.' 
aud having finished he said, ' that from dust they came and to dust they 
must return, and that in twenty years, more or less, he must render his 
final account; that the Adelantado might do with them as he chose.' The 
Adelantado then ordered all to be killed, in the same order and at the same 
mark, as had been done to the others. He spared only the filers, drum- 
mers, and trumpeters, and four others who said that they were C'atholics, 
in all, sixteen persons." 

" Todos los devias fueron degaUadosJ' — ''all tli'e rest were 
slaughtered," is the sententious summary by which Padre de Solis 
announced the close of the sad career of the gray-haired veteran, 
the brave soldier, the Admiral Jean Ribault, and his companions.* 

At some point on the thickly-wooded shores of the Island 
of Anastasia, or beneath the shifting mounds of sand which mark 
its shores, may still lie the bones of some of the three hundred 
and fifty who, spared from destruction by the tempest, and es- 
caping the perils of the sea and of the sa\age, fell victims to the 
vindictive rancor and blind rage of one than whom history re- 
calls none more cruel, or less humane. But while their bones, 
scattered on earth and sea, unhonored and unburied, were lost 
to human sight, the tale of their destruction and sad fate, scat- 
tered in like manner over the whole world, has raised to their 
memory through sympathy with their fate, a memorial which 
will endure as long as the pages of history. 

The Adelantado returned that night to St. Augustine, where, 
says his apologist, some persons censured him for his cruelty. 
Others commended what he had done as the act of a good gen- 
eral, aud said that even if they had. been Catholics, he could 
not have done more justly than he had done for them; for with 
the few provisions the Adelantado had, either the one or the 

* Barcia, p. 89. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 48 

•other people would have had to perish with hunger, and the 
French would have destroyed our people: they were the most 
numerous.* 

We have still to trace the fate of the hody of two hundred, 
who retired from Kibault after his final determination to surren- 
der to the tender mercies of Menendez. As we are already 
aware, it comprised the elite of his force, men of standing and 
rank, and whose spirits had retained energy to combat against 
the natural discouragements of their position ; and they adopted 
the nobler resolve of selling their lives, at least with their swords 
in their hands. 

De Solis proceeds to give the following further account of 
them : 

"Twenty days subsequently to the destruction of these, some Indians 
came to the Adelantado, and informed iiim by signs, tliat eight days' 
journey from here to the soutliward, near tlie Bahama Channel, at Canav- 
eral, a large number of people, brethren of those whom tlie General had 
caused to be killed, were building a fort and a vessel. The Adelantado at 
once came to the conclusion, tliat the French had retired to the place where 
their vessels were wrecked, and where tiieir artillery and munitions, and 
provisions were, in order to build a vessel and return to France to ))rocure 
succor. The General thereui>on dispatched from 8t. Augustine to St. Mat- 
teo, ten of his soldiers, conveying intelligence of what had taken place, and 
directing that they should send to him one himdred and fifty of the sol- 
diers there, with the tliirty-five others who renuiined when he returned to 
St, Augustine, after taking the fort. The nui.stcr of the camj) immediately 
dispatched them, under command of Captains Juan Velez de Medrano and 
Andrez Lopez Patrio ; and they arrived at St. Augustine on October li.3d. 
On the 25tli, after having heard mass, the Adelantado departed for the 
coast, with three liundred men, and three small vessels to go by sea with 
the arms and provisions; and tlie vessels were to go along and progress 
etpuUly with the troops; and each night when the troops halted, the ves- 
sels also anchored by them, for it was a clear and sandy coast. 

"The Adelantado carried in the three vessels provisions for forty days 
for three hundred men, and one day's rations was to last for two days ; and 
he promised to do everything for the general good of all, although they 
might have to undergo many dangers and i)rivations ; that he had great hope 
that lie would have the goodness and mercy of God to aid him in carrying 
through safely tins so holy and jiious an imdertaking. He then took leave 
of them, leaving most of them in tears, for he was much loved, feared and 
respected by. all. f 

" The Adelantado, after a wearisome journey, marching on foot him- 
self the whole distance, arrived in the neighborhood of tlie French camp 

» Bnrcia. p. 89. f Barcia, p 89. 



44 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

oti All Saint.s Day, at dayliglit, jiuided by the Indians l)y land, and tlie 
three vessels vmder the command of Captain Diego de Maya. As soon as 
t-he French dcsi'ried the Spaniards, they fled to their fort, withont any re- 
maining. The Adelantado sent them a trumpeter, offering them their 
lives, that they should return and should receive the same treatment as the 
Spaniards. One hundred and fifty came to the Adelantado ; and their 
leader, with twenty others, sent to say that they would sc)oner be devoured 
l)y the Indians, than surrender themselves to the Spaniards. The Adelan- 
tado received those who surrendered, very well, and having set fire to the 
fort, which was of wood, burned the vessel which they were building, and 
liuried the artillery, for the vessels could not carry them." 

De Solis liere closes his account of the matter ; but from 
other accounts Ave learn that the Adelantado kept his faith on 
this occasion Avith them, and that some entered his service, some 
Avere converted to his faith, and others returned to France ; and 
thus ended the Huguenot attempt to colonize the shores of Florida. 

There are sev^eral other accounts of the fate of Ribault and 
his folloAvers, draAvn from the narratives of survivors of the expe- 
dition, Avhich, Avithout varying the general order of events, fill in 
sundry details of the massacres. The main point of difference 
is, as to the pledges or assurances giA^en by Menendez. The 
French accounts say that he pledged his faith to them that their 
lives should be spared.* It Avill be seen that the Spanish ac- 
count denies that he did so, but makes him use language subject 
to misconstruction, and calculated to deceive them into the hope 
and expectation of safety. I do not see that in a Christian or 
even moral view there is much difference betAveen an open breach 
of faith and the breach of an implied faith, particularly Avhen it 
Avas only by this deception that the surrender could have been 
accomplished. Nor could Menendez have had a very delicate 
sense of the value of the Avord of a soldier, a Christian, and a, 
gentleman, Avhen, as his apologist admits, he did directly use the 
language of falsehood, to induce them to submit to the degrada- 
tion of having their hands tied. 

Nor, considered in its broader aspects, is it a matter of any 
consequence Avhether he gave his Avord or not ; nor does it lessen 
the enormity of his conduct, had they submitted themselves in 
the most unreserved manner to his discretion. France and Spain 



"•■■ Such was the understanding of those who tlien wrote in reference to 
the transaction, as Barcia admits. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 45 

were at peace ; no act of hostility had been committed by the 
French toward tlie Spaniards ; and Kibault asked onlj' to be al- 
lowed to pass oi;. In violation alike of the laws of war and the 
law of humanity, he first induced them to surrender, to abide 
what God, whose holy name he invoked, should put into his heart 
to do, and then cajoling them into allowing their hands to be 
tied, he ordered them to be killed in their bonds as they stood, 
defenceless, helpless, wrecked and famished men. It would have 
been a base blot upon human nature, had he thus served the 
most savage tribe of nations, standing on that far shore, brought 
into the common sympathy of want and suffering. The act 
seems one of monstrous atrocity, when committed against the 
people of a sij^ter nation. 



46 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER IX. 

FORTIFYING OF ST. AUGUSTINE— DI8AFFECTI0NS AND MUTI- 
NIES—APPROVAL OF MENENDEZ'S ACTS BY THE KING 

OF SPAIN— 1565-15G8. 

During the time of the several expeditions of the Adelanta- 
(lo against the French Huguenots, the fortification and strength- 
ening of the defences of the settlement at St. Augustine had not 
been neglected. The fort, or Indian council-house, which had 
been first fortified, seems to have been consumed in the conflagra- 
tion spoken of; and thereupon a plan of a regular fortification 
or fort was marked out by Menendez ; and, as there existed some 
danger of the return of the French, the Spaniards labored un- 
ceasingly with their whole force, to put it in a respectable state 
of defence. From an engraving contained in De Bry, illustrat- 
ing the attack of Sir Francis Drake, twenty years afterwards, 
this fort appears to luive been an octagonal structure of logs, and 
located near the site of the present fort, while the settlement it- 
self was probably made in the first instance, at the lower end of 
the peninsula, near the building now called " the powder-house.' 

He also established a government for the place, with civil 
a.Tid military officials, a hall of justice, etc. 

All of these matters were arranged by Menendez before his 
expedition against the French at Canaveral, of whom one hun- 
dred and fifty returned with him, and were received upon an 
equal footing with his own men, the more distinguished being re- 
ceived at his own table upon the most friendly terms ; a clemen- 
cy which, with a knowledge of his character, can only be ascribed 
to motives of policy. The position of the French at Canaveral 
was probably inaccessible, as they had their arms, besides artil- 
lery brought from the vessels ; and the duplicity which had char- 
acterized his success with their comrades was out of the question 
here ; the French could, therefore, exact their own terms, and 
unshackled could forcibly resist any attempt at treachery. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 47 

The addition to this number of his force lessened the al- 
ready diminished supply of provisions which Menendez had 
brought with him ; and want soon began to threaten his camp. 
He sent as many of his soldiers as he could into camp at San 
Matteo, and endeavored to draw supplies from the Indians; but 
unfortunately for him, the country between the St. John's and St. 
Augustine was under the rule of the Indian Chief, Satouriara, 
the friend (and ally) of the French, whose hostility the Span- 
iards were never able to overcome. Satouriara and his follow- 
ers withdrew from all peaceable intercourse with the Spaniards, 
and hung about their path to destroy, harrass, and cut them off 
upon every possible occasion. 

The winter succeeding the settlement of the Spaniards at 
St. Augustine, was most distressing and discouraging to them. 
The lack of provisions in their camp drove them to seek, in the 
surrounding country, subsistence from the roots and esculent 
plants it might afFoi'd, or to obtain in the neighboring creeks, fish 
and oysters ; but no sooner did a Spaniard venture out alone be- 
}'ond the gates of the fort, than he was grasped by some unseen 
foe, from the low underbrush and put to death, or a shower of 
arrows from some tree-top was his first intimation of danger ; if 
he discharged his arquebusc towards his invisible assailants, oth- 
ers would .spring i;pon him Ijefore he could reload his piece ; or, 
if he attempted to find fish and oysters in some quiet creek, the 
noiseless canoe of an Indian would dart in upon him, and the 
heavy war-club of the savage descending upon his unprotected 
head, end his existence. Against such a foe, no defence could 
avail; and it is related, that more than one hundred and twenty 
of the Spaniards were thus killed, including Captain Martin dc 
Ochoa, Captain Diego de Hevia, Fernando de Gamboa, and Juan 
Menendez, a nephew of the Adelantado, and many others of the 
bravest and most distinguished of the garrison. 

In this crisis of affairs, the Governor concluded to go to Cuba 
himself, to obtain relief for his colony. He, in the meantime, 
established a fort at St. Lucia, near Canaveral. A considerable 
jealousy seems to have existed on the part of the Governor of 
Cuba; and he received Menendez with great coolne.ss, and in re- 
ply to his appeals for aid, only offered an empty vessel. In this 
emergency, Menendez contemplated, as his only means of obtain- 



48 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

ing what he wished, to go upon a filibustering expedition against 
some Portuguese and English vessels which were in those waters. 
While making preparations to do this, four vessels of the fleet 
with which he had left Spain, and which had been supposed lost, 
arrived ; and after dispatching a vessel to Campeachy for jirovi- 
sions, he commenced his return voyage to his colony, delaying, 
however, for a time in South Florida, to seek intelligence among 
the Indians of his lost son. 

In the meantime his garrisons at St. Augustine and San Mat- 
teo had mutinied, and were in open revolt ; provisions had be- 
come so scarce that twenty-five reals had been given for a pound 
of biscuit, and but I'or the fish they would have starved. They 
jilundered the public stores, imprisoned their officers, and seized 
upon a vessel laden with j^rovisions which had been sent to the 
garrison. The Master of the Camp succeeded in escaping from 
confinement and releasing his fellow prisoners, by a bold move- 
ment cut off the intercourse between the mutineers on board the 
vessel and those on shore, and hung the Sergeant-Major, who was 
at the head of the movement. The Commandant then attempted 
to attack those in the vessel, and was nearly lost with his com- 
panions, by being wrecked on the bar. The vessel made sail to 
the West India Islands. The garrison at San Matteo took a ves- 
sel there and come around to St, Augustine, but arrived after 
their accomplices had left. 

Disease had already begun to make its ravages, and added 
to the general wish to leave the country ; which all would then 
have done had they had the vessels in which to embark. They 
used for their recovery from sickness, the roots of a native shrub, 
which produced marvelous cures. 

At this period Menendez returned to the famished garrison, 
but was forced to permit Juan Vicente, with one hundred of the 
disaffected, to go to St. Domingo by a vessel which he despatched 
there for supplies ; and it is said that the governors of the islands 
where they went, harbored them, and that of some five hundred 
who, on different occasions, deserted from the Adelantado, and 
all of whom had been brought out at his cost, but two or three 
were ever returned to him ; while tlie deserters, putting theii' 
own construction upon their acts, sent home to the king of Spain 
criminations of tlie Adelantado, and represented the conquest of 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 49 

Florida as a hopeless and worthless acquisition ; that it was bar- 
ren and swampy, and produced nothing. 

After this defection, Menendez proceeded along the coast to 
San Matteo, and thence to Quale, Amelia, and adjoining islands, 
Orista and St. Helena ; made peaceful proposals to the Indian 
tribes, lectured them upon theology, and planted a cross at their 
council-houses. The cacique of Guale asked Menendez how it 
was " that he had waged war upon the other white men who 
had come from the same country as himself ?" He replied, "that 
the other white people were bad Christians, and believers in lies ; 
and that those whom he had killed, deserved the most cruel 
death, because they had fled their own country, and came to mis- 
lead and deceive the caciques and other Indians, as they had al- 
ready before misled and deceived many good Christians, in order 
that the devil may take possession of them." While at St. Hele- 
na he succeeded in obtaining permission of the Indians to erect a 
fort there, and he left a detachment. On his return he also 
erected fort San Felipe, at Orista ; and after setting up a cross 
at Guale, the cacique demanded of him, that as now they had 
become good Christians, he should cause rain to come upon their 
fields ; for a drought had continued eight months. The same 
night a severe rain-storm happened, which confirmed the faith of 
the Indians, and gained the Adelantado great credit with them. 
While here, he learned that there was a fugitive Lutheran among 
the Indians, and he took some pains to cause to be given to the 
fugitive hopes of good treatment if he Avould come into the 
Spanish post at St. Helena, while he gave private directions that 
he should be killed, directing his lieutenant to make very strange 
of his disappearance ; an incident very illustrative of the vindic- 
tiveness and duplicity of Menendez.* 

He returned to St. Augustine, and was received with great 
joy, and devoted himself to the completion of the fort, which was 
to frighten the savages, and enforce respect from strangers. It 
was built, it is said, where it now stands, donde este ahora, (1722). 

The colony left at St. Helena mutinied almost immediately, 
and seizing a vessel sent with supplies, sailed for Cuba, and were 
wrecked on the Florida Kevs, where thev met at an Indian 



»Ensay. Cron. 110. 



50 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

town the mutineers who had deserted from the fort at St. Mat- 
teo : these had been also wrecked there. 

The garrison again .becoming much straitened for provisions, 
the Adelantado, in June, was obliged to go to Cuba for succor. 
He was received with indifference, and his wishes were unheeded. 
He applied to the Governor of Mexico, and others who happened 
to be there, and who had the power of assisting him ; from all he 
received no encouragement, but the advice to abandon his enter- 
prise. He at last pawned his jewels, the badge of his order, and 
his valuables, thus obtaining five hundred ducats ; w^ith which 
he purchased provisions, and set sail on his return, w^ith only 
sixty-five men. 

But just at this period succor came to the famished troops; 
a fleet of seventeen vessels arrived with fifteen hundred men 
from Spain, under Juan de Avila, as admiral. By this means all 
the posts were succored and reinforced, and the enterprise saved 
from destruction ; for the small supplies brought by Menendez 
would have been soon exhausted, and further efforts being out of 
his power, they would have been forced to withdraw from the 
country. 

The admiral of the fleet also had entrusted to him for the 
Adelantado a letter from the king, written on the 12th of May, 
1566, which, among other matters, contained the following royal 
commendation of the acts of Menendez. " Of the great success 
which has attended your enterprise, we have the most entire sat- 
isfaction, and we bear in memory the loyalty, the love, and the 
diligence, with which you have borne us service, as w^ell as the 
dangers and perils in which you have been placed ; and as to the 
retribution you have visited upon the Lutheran pirates who 
sought to occupy that country, and to fortify themselves there, 
in order to disseminate in it their wicked creed, and to prosecute 
there their wrongs and robberies, which they have done and 
were doing against God's service and my own, we believe that 
you did it with every justification and propriety, and we consider 
ourself to have been well served in so doing."* 

To this commendation of Philipp II., it is unnecessary to add 
any comment, save that no other action could have been expected 

* Ensayo : Cron. 115. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 51 

of him. And of Charles IX., of France, the Spanish historian 
says that he treated the memorial of the widows and orphans of 
the slain with contempt, " considering their punishment to have 
been just, in that they were equally enemies of Spain, *of France, 
of the Church, and of the peace of the world." 

During the absence of Menendez to inspect his posts, disaf- 
fection again broke out ; and finding his force too numerous, he 
with sixteen vessels went upon a freebooting expedition to attack 
pirates. He failed to meet with any ; but having learned that a 
large French fleet was on its way, he visited and fortified the 
forts on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, and 
again returned to Florida ; the expected French fleet never hav- 
ing arrived. About this time, a small vessel brought from Spain 
three learned and exemplary priests ; one of whom, Fadre Mar- 
tinez, landed upon the coast with some of the crew, and being 
unable to regain the vessel, coasted along to St. George Island,, 
where he was attacked and murdered by the Indians, with a 
number of his companions. 

The following year was principally occupied by Menendez 
in strengthening his fortifications at his three forts, in visiting 
the Indian chiefs at their towns, and exploring the country. One 
of his expeditions went as far north as the thirty-seventh degree 
of latitude by sea, and another went to the foot of the Apalachian 
Mountains, about one hundred and fifty leagues, and established 
a fort. The former was about the mouth of the Chesapeake, 
called the Santa Maria,* and the land expedition, probably to 
the up-country of Georgia, in the neighborhood of Rome. 

All attempts at pacifying their warlike neighbor were as 
fruitless as their attempts to subjugate him ; whether in artifice 
and duplicity, in open warfare, or seci'et ambu.^h, he was more 
than equal to the Adelantado, and was a worthy ancestor of the 
modern Seminole— never present when looked for, and never ab- 
sent when an opportunity of striking a blow occurred. 

The Adelantado having had built an extremely slight vessel 
of less than twenty tons, called a frigate, concluded to visit Spain 
and ran in seventeen days to the Azores, sailing seventy leagues 
per day, an exploit not often equaled in modern times. He was 

* Pensacola Bay was also so called. 



52 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

received with great joy in Spain, and the king treated him with 
much consideration. The Adelantado felt great anxiety to re- 
turn to his colony, and deprecated the delays of the court, fear- 
ing the result of the indignation at his cruelty to the Huguenots, 
which, says his chronicler, increased day by day.f 



t Ensayo : Cron. 133. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLOKIDA. 63 



CHAPTER X. 

THE NOTABLE REVENGE OF DOMINIC DE GOURGUES— RE- 
TURN OF MENENDEZ— INDIAN MISSION— lafiS. 

While Menendez thus remained- at the Spanish court urging 
the completion of his business, seeking compensation for the great 
expenditures which he had made in the king's service, and vin- 
dicating himself from the accusations which had been preferred 
against him — the revenge, the distant murmurs of which had 
already reached his ears, fell upon the Spaniards on the St. 
John's. 

Dominic de Gourgues, one of those soldiers of fortune wha 
then abounded throughout Europe, took upon himself the ex- 
pression of the indignation with which the French nation viewed 
the slaughter of their countrymen. From motives of policy, or 
from feelings still less creditable, the French court ignored the 
event; but it rankled nevertheless in the national heart, and 
many a secret vow of revenge was breathed, the low whispers of 
which reached even the confines of the Spanish court. Con- 
science, and the knowledge that the sentiment of the age was 
against him, made Menendez from the moment of his success ex- 
ceedingly anxious lest well-merited retribution should fall upon 
his own colony. He guarded against it in every way in his 
power ; he strengthened all his posts ; he erected for the protec- 
tion of San Matteo, formerly Fort Caroline, two small forts on 
either side of the entrance of the river, at the points now known 
as Batten Island and Mayport Mills. He placed large garrisons 
at each post, and had made such arrangements against surprise 
or open attack upon his forts, that Father Mendoza boasted that 
"half of all France could not take them." 

De Gourgues, with three vessels and about two hundred and 
fifty chosen men, animated with like feelings with himself, ap- 
peared in April, 1568, off the mouth of the St. John's. The 
Spanish fort received his vessels with a salute, supposing them to 



54 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

be under the flag of Spain. De Gourgues returned the .salute, 
thus confirming their error. He then entered the St. Mary's, 
called the Somme, and was met by a large concourse of Indians, 
friendly to the French and bitterly hostile to the Spaniards, at 
the head of whom was the stern and uncompromising Saturioura. 
Their j)lans were quickly formed, and immediately carried into 
execution. Their place of rendezvous was the Fort George In- 
let, called by them the Sarabay ; and they traversed that island 
at low tide, fell suddenly upon the fort at Batten Island on the 
north side of the river, com.pletely surprising it. The force oc- 
cupying the Spanish forts amounted to four hundred men, one 
hundred and twenty of whom occupied the two forts at the 
mouth of the river, and the remainder Fort Caroline. The 
French with their Indian allies approached the fort on the north 
side of the river at daybreak. Having waded the intervening 
marsh and creek, to the great damage of their feet and legs by 
reason of the oyster banks, they arrived within two hundred 
yards of the post, when they were discovered by the sentinel 
upon the platform of the fort ; who immediately cried, " to 
arms," and discharged twice at the French a culverin which had 
been taken at Fort Caroline. Before he could load it a third 
time the brave Olatocara leaped upon him, and killed him with 
a pike. Gourgues then charging in, the garrison, by this time 
alarmed, ru.shed out, armed hastily and seeking escape ; another 
part of Gourgues' force coming up, inclosed the Spaniards be- 
tween them, and all but fifteen of the garrison perished on the 
spot; the others were taken prisoners, only to be reserved for 
the summary vengeance which the French leader meditated. 

The Spanish garrison in the other fort kept up in the mean- 
time a brisk cannonade, which incommoded the assailants, who, 
however, soon managed to point the pieces of the fort they had 
taken ; and under the cover of this fire the French crossed to 
the other fort, their Indian allies in great numbers swimming 
with them. The garrison of sixty men, panic-struck, made no 
attempt at resistance, but fled, endeavoring to reach the main 
fort : being intercepted by the Indians in one direction, and by 
the French in another, but few made good their escape. These, 
arriving at Fort Caroline, carried an exaggerated account of the 
number of their assailants. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 55 

De Gourgues at. once pushed forward to attack Fort Caro- 
line, while its defenders were terrified at the suddenness of his 
attack, and the supposed strength of his force. Upon his arrival 
near the fort, the Spanish commander sent out a detachment of 
sixty men, to make a reconnoisance. De Gourgues skilfully in- 
terposed a body of his own men with a large number of the In- 
dians between the reconnoitering party and the fort, and then 
with his main foi'ce charged upon them in front : when the Span- 
iards, turning to seek the shelter of the fort, were met by the 
force in their rear, and wei-e all either killed or taken prisoners. 
Seeing this misfortune, the Spanish commander despaired of 
being able to hold the fortress, and determined to make a timely 
retreat to St. Augustine. In attempting this, most of his follow- 
ers fell into the hands of the Indians, and were slain upon the 
spot ; the commandant with a few others alone escaped. 

De Gourgues, now completely successful in making retalia- 
tion for the fate of his countrymen on the same spot where they 
sufiered, on the same tree which had borne the bodies of the 
Huguenots caused his prisoners to be suspended ; and as Menen- 
dez had on the former occasion erected a tablet that they had 
been jiunished "not as Frenchmen but as Lutherans," so De 
Gourgues in like manner erected an inscription that he had done 
this to them "not as to tSpaniards, nor as to outcasts, hut as to 
traitors, thieves and viurderers." * 

After inducing the Indians to destroy the forts, and to i-aze 
them to the ground, he set sail for France, arriving safely with- 
out further adventure. 

His conduct was at the time disavowed and censured by the 
French court; and the Spanish ambassador had the assurance, in 
the name of that master who had publicly declared his approval 
of the conduct of Menendez, to demand the surrender of De 
Gourgues to his vengeance. The brave captain, however the 
crown might seem to disapprove, was secretly sustained and pro- 
tected by many distinguished persons, official and private, and 
by the mass of the people ; to whom his boldness, spirit, and sig- 
nal success were grateful. Some years afterwards he was re- 
stored to the favor of his sovereign, and appointed admiral of 
the fleet. 

* Ternaux, Compans, p. 357. 



66 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

That De Gourgues deserves censure, cannot be denied; but 
there will always exist an adnairation for his courage and intrejoid 
valor, with a sympathy for the bitter provocations under which 
he acted, both personal and national; a sympathy not shared 
with Menendez, who visited his wrath upon the religious opin- 
ions of men, while De Gourgues was the unauthorized avenger 
of undoubted crime and inhumanity. Both acted in violation of 
the pure spirit of that Christianity which they alike professed to 
revere, under the same form. 

While these scenes were enacting on the St. John's, Menen- 
dez was on his way to his colonies, where he first heard of the 
descent of De Gourgues, then on his way back to France. The 
Adelantado upon his arrival found liis troojDS hungry and naked, 
and their relations with the Indians worse than ever. Having 
made such arrangements as were in his power, he returned to 
Havana, to further his plans for introducing Christianity among 
the Indians; to wdaich, to his credit be it said, he devoted the 
greater share of his time and attention. Father Rogel applied 
himself to learning their language, with great success; and an 
institution was established in Havana especially for their instruc- 
tion. In the Ensayo Cronologica, there is set forth, in full, a re- 
script addressed by Pope Pius V., to Menendez, conveying to 
him the acknowledgments of his Holiness for the zeal and loy- 
alty he had exhibited, and his labors in carrying the faith to the 
Indians, and urging him strongly to see to it that his Indian con- 
verts should not be scandalized by the vicious lives of their white 
brethren who claimed to be Christians. 

A small party of Spaniards, as has already been mentioned, 
accompanied by a priest, De Quiros, had been left upon the 
Chesapeake, and under the auspices of a young converted chief, 
who had been some time with the Spaniards in Havana and 
Florida, anticipated a more easy access to the Indian tribes in 
that region. Another priest, with ten associates, went the fol- 
lowing year; when, after they had sent away their vessel, they 
discovered that their predecessor had been murdered, through 
the treachery of the renegade apostate; and they themselves 
shortly fell victims to his perfidy. Menendez dispatched a third 
vessel there ; when the fate of the two former parties was ascer- 
tained, and he went in person to chastise the murderers ; he sue- 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 57 

ceeded in capturing six or seven, who, it is said, (rather improba- 
bly I think,) confessed themselves to have been implicated in the 
massacre. Menendez, in his summary and sailor-like way, or- 
dered their execution at the yard-arm of his vessel. The chroni- 
cle says that they were first converted and baptized, by the zeal 
of Father Rogel, before the sentence was carried into execution. 
A long period elapsed before any further efforts were made in 
this quarter to establish a colony ; and it was then accomplished 
by the English. In consequence of these temporary establish- 
ments, however, the Spanish crown for a long period, claimed the 
whole of the intervening country, as lying Avithin its Province of 
Florida. 

The annals of the city during the remainder of the life of 
Menendez, present only the usual vicissitudes of new settle- 
ments — the alternations of supply and want, occasional disaffec- 
tions, and petty annoyances. 

Menendez was the recipient from his court of new honors 
from time to time, and had been a^^pointed the grand admiral of 
the Spanish Armada; when, in Sej)tember, 1574, he was sud- 
denly carried off by a fever, at the age of fifty-five. It is a sin- 
gular coincidence that De Gourgues, five years afterwards, was 
carried off in a similar manner, just after his appointment as ad- 
miral of the French fleet. A splendid monument in the church 
of San Nicolas, at Aviles, was erected to the memory of Menen- 
dez, with the following inscription : 

"HERE LIES BURIED THE ILLUSTRIOUS CAVALIER, PEDRO 
MENENDEZ DE AVILES, A NATIVE OF THIS CITY, ADELANTADO 
OF THE PROVINCES OF FLORIDA, KNIGHT COMMANDER OF 
SANTA CRUZ OF THE ORDER OF SANTIAGO, AND CAPTAIN-GEN- 
ERAL OF THE OCEANIC SEAS AND OF THE ARMADA WHICH 
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS COLLECTED AT SANTANDER IN THE 
YEAR L'iT^, WHERE HE DIED ON THE 17th OF SEPTEMBER OF 
THAT YEAR, IN THE 55th YEAR OF HIS AGE." 



58 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER XI. 

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S ATTACK UPON ST. AUGUSTINE— ESTAB- 
LISHMENT OF MISSIONS— MASSACRE OF MISSIONARIES 

AT ST. AUGUSTINE— 1586-1638. 

Nine years had elapsed from the death of Menendez, and 
the colony at St. Augustine had slowly progressed into the set- 
tlement of a small town ; but the eclat and importance which the 
presence of Menendez had given it, were much lessened; wheui 
in 1586, Sir Francis Drake, with a fleet returning from South 
America, discovered the Spanish lookout upon Anastasia Island, 
and sent boats ashore to ascertain something in reference to it. 
Marching up the shore, they discovered across the bay, a fort, 
and further up a town built of wood. 

Proceeding towards the fort, which bore the name of San 
Juan de Pinas, some guns were fired upon them from it, and they 
retired towards their vessel ; the same evening a fifer made his 
appearance, and informed them that he was a Frenchman, de- 
tained a prisoner there, and that the Spaniards had abandoned 
their fort ; and he offered to conduct them over. Upon this in- 
formation they crossed the river and found the fort abandoned 
as they had been informed, and took possession of it without op- 
position. It was built entirely of wood, and only surrounded by 
a wall or pale formed of the bodies or trunks of large trees, set 
upright in the earth ; for, says the narrative, it was not at that 
time inclosed by a ditch, as it had been but lately begun by the 
Spaniards. The platforms were made of the bodies of large pine 
trees (of which there are plenty here), laid horizontally across 
each other, with earth rammed in to fill up the vacancies. Four- 
teen brass cannon were found in the fort, and there was left be- 
hind the treasure chest, containing £2,000 sterling, designed for 
the payment of the garrison, which consisted of one hundred and 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 59 

fifty men. Whether the massive, iron-bound mahogany chest,* 
still preserved in the old fort is the same which fell into the 
hands of Drake, is a question for antiquaries to decide ; its an- 
cient appearance might well justify the supposition. 

On the following day, Drake's forces marched towards the 
town, but owing, it is said, to heavy rains, were obliged to re- 
turn and go in boats. On their approach, the Spaniards fled into 
the country. It is said, in Barcia, that a Spaniard concealed in 
the bushes, fired at the sergeant-major and wounded him, and 
then ran up and dispatched him, and that in revenge for this 
act, Drake burnt their buildings and destroyed their gardens. 
The garrison and inhabitants retired to fort San Matteo, on the 
St. John's river. Barcia says that the population of the place 
was then increasing considerably, and that it possessed a hall of 
justice, parochial church, and other buildings, together with gar- 
dens in the rear of the town. 

An engraved plan or view of Drake's descent upon St. 
Augustine, published after his return to England, rej^resents an 
octagonal fort between two streams ; at the distance of half a 
mile another stream ; beyond that the town, with a look-out and 
two religious houses, one of which is a church, and the other 
probably the house of the Franciscans, who had shortly before 
established a house of their order there. The town contains 
three squares lengthwise, and four in width, with gardens on the 
west side. 

Some doubt has been thrown on the actual site of the first 
settlement, by this account ; but I think it probably stood con- 
siderably to the south of the present public square, between the 
barracks and the powder-house. Perhaps the Maria Sanchez 
creek may have then communicated with the bay near its pres- 
ent head, in wet weather and at high tides isolating the fortfrom 
the town. The present north ditch may have been the bed of a 
tide creek, and thus would correspond to the appearance pre- 
sented by the sketch. It is well known that the north end of 
the city was built at a much later period than the southern, and 
that the now vacant space below the barracks, was once occupied 



* This old chest, which remained in one of the western vaults of the 
fort, up to the late war, was broken up for relics, and is no longer there. 



60 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

with buildings. Buildings and fields are shown upon Anastasia 
Island, opposite the town. The relative position of the town 
with reference to the entrance of the harbor is correctly shown 
on the plan ; and there seems no sufficient ground to doubt the 
identity of the present town with the ancient locality. 

The garrison and country were then under the command of 
Don Pedro Menendez, a nephew of the Adelantado, who, after 
the English squadron sailed, having received assistance from 
Havana, began, it is said, to rebuild the city, and made great 
efforts to increase its population, and to induce the Indians to set- 
tle in its neighborhood. 

In 1592, twelve Franciscan missionaries arrived at St. Au- 
gustine, with their Superior, Fray Jean de Silva, and placed 
themselves under the charge of Father Francis Manon, Warden 
of the Convent of St. Helena. One of them, a Mexican, Father 
Francis Panja, drew up in the language of the Yemasees his 
"Abridgment of Christian Doctrine," said to be the first woi'k 
compiled in any of our Indian languages. 

The Franciscan Father Corpa established a Mission house 
for the Indians at Talomato, in the northwest portion of the city 
of St. Augustine, where there was an Indian village. Father 
Bias de Rodriguez, also called Montes, had an Indian church at 
a village of the Indians, called Tapoqui, situated on the creek 
called Cano de la Leche, north of the fort ; and the church 
bearing the name of " Our Lady of the Milk " was situated on 
the elevated ground a cj^uarter of a mile north of the fort, near the 
creek. A stone church existed at this locality as late as 1795, 
and the crucifix belonging to it is preserved in the Roman Cath- 
olic Church at St. Augustine. 

These missions proceeded with considerable apparent suc- 
cess, large numbers of the Indians being received and instructed 
both at this and other missions. 

Among the converts at the mission of Talomato, was the son 
of the cacique of the province of Guale, a proud and high-spirited 
young leader, who by no means submitted to the requirements of 
his spiritual fathers, but indulged in excesses which scandalized 
his profession. Father Corpa, after trying private remonstrances 
and warnings in vain, thought it necessary to administer to him 
a public rebuke. This aroused the pride of the young chief, and 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 61 

he suddenly left the mission, determined upon revenge. He 
gathered from the interior a band of warriors, whom he inspired 
with his own hatred against the missionaries. Returning to Tal- 
omato with his followers under the cover of night, he crept up to 
the mission house, burst open the chapel doors, and slew the de- 
voted Father Corpa while at prayer ; then severed his head 
from his body, set it upon a pikestaff, and threw his body out 
into the forest where it could never afterwards be found. The 
scene of this tragedy was in the neighborhood of the present Ro- 
man Catholic cemetery of St. Augustine. 

As soon as this occurrence became known in the Indian vil- 
lage, all was excitement ; some of the most devoted bewailing the 
death of their spiritual father, while others dreaded the conse- 
quences of so rash an act, and shrunk with terror from the ven- 
geance of the Spaniards, which they foresaw would soon follow. 
The young chief of Guale gathered them around him, and in 
earnest tones addressed them. " Yes," said he, " the friar is dead. 
It would not have been done, if he would have allowed us to live 
as we did before we became Christians. We desire to return to 
our ancient customs; and we must provide for our defence 
against the j)unishment which will be hurled upon us by the 
governor of Florida, which, if it be allowed to reach us, will be 
as rigorous for this single friar, as if we had killed them all. For 
the same power which we possess to destroy this one priest, we 
have to destroy them all." 

His followers approved of what had been done, and said 
there was no doubt l)ut what the same vengeance would fall 
ujDon them for the death of the one, as for all. 

He then resumed : " Since we shall receive equal punish- 
ment for the death of this one, as though we had killed them all, 
let us regain the liljerty of which these friars have robbed us, 
with their promises of good things which we have not yet seen, 
but which they seek to keep us in hope of, while they accumulate 
upon us who are called Christians, injuries and disgust, making 
us quit our wives, restricting us to one only, and prohibiting us 
from changing her. They prevent us from having our balls, 
banquets, feasts, celebrations, games and contests, so that being 
deprived of them, we lose our ancient valor and skill which Ave 
inherited from our ancestors. Although they oppress us with 



62 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

labor, refusing to grant even the respite of a few days, and 
although we are disposed to do all they require from us, they are 
not satisfied; but for everything they reprimand us, injuriously 
treat us, oppress us, lecture us, call us bad Christians, and de- 
prive us of all the pleasures which our fathers enjoyed, in the 
hope that they would give us heaven ; by these frauds subject- 
ing us and holding us under their absolute control. And what 
have we to hope except to be made slaves ? If we now put them 
all to death, we shall destroy these excrescenses, and force the 
governor to treat us well." 

The majority were carried away by his address, and rung 
out the war-cry of death and defiance. While still eager for 
blood, their chief led them to the Indian town of Tapoqui, the 
mission of Father Monies, on the Cano de la Leche ; tumultu- 
ously rushing in, they informed the missionary of the fate of 
Father Corpa, and that they sought his own life and those of all 
his order ; and then with uplifted weapons bade him prepare to 
die. He reasoned and remonstrated with them, portraying the 
folly and wickedness of their intentions, that the vengeance of the 
Spaniards would surely overtake them, and implored them with 
tears, that for their own sakes rather than his, they would pause 
in their mad designs. But all in vain ; they were alike insensi- 
ble to his eloquence, and his tears, and pressed forward to sur- 
round him. Finding all else vain, he begged as a last favor that 
he should be permitted to celebrate mass before he died. In 
this he was probably actuated in part by the hope that their 
fierce hatred might be assuaged by the sight of the ceremonies of 
their faith, or that the delay might afford time for succor from 
the adjoining garrison. 

The permission was given ; and there for the last time the 
"worthy Father put on his robes, which might well be termed his 
robes of sacrifice. The wild and savage crowd, thirsting for his 
blood, reclined upon the floor and looked on in sullen silence, 
awaiting the conclusion of the rites. The priest alone, standing 
before the altar, proceeded with this most sad and solemn mass, 
then cast his eyes to heaven and knelt in private supplication ; 
where the next moment he fell under the blows of his cruel foes, 
bespattering the altar at which he ministered with his own life's 
blood. His crushed remains were thrown into the fields, that 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 65 

they might serve for the fowls of the air or the beasts of the for- 
est ; but not one would approach it, except a dog, which, rushing 
forward to lay hold upon the body, fell dead upon the spot, says 
the ancient chronicle ; and an old Christian Indian, recognizing 
it, gave it sepulture in the forest. 

From thence the ferocious young chief of Guale led his fol- 
lowers against several missions, in other parts of the country^ 
which he attacked and destroyed, together with their attendant 
clergy. Thus upon the soil of the Ancient City was shed the 
blood of Christian martyrs, who were laboring with a zeal well 
worthy of emulation, to cai'ry the truths of religion to the native 
tribes of Florida. Two hundred and sixty years have passed 
away tmce these sad scenes were enacted ; but we cannot even now 
repress a tear of sympathy and a feeling of admiration for those 
self-denying missionaries of the cross, who sealed their faith with 
their blood, and fell victims to their energy and devotion. The- 
spectacle of the dying priest struck down at the altar, attired in 
his sacred vestments, and perhaps imploring pardon upon his 
murderers, cannot fail to call uj) in the heart of the most insensi- 
ble, something more than a passing emotion. 

The zeal of the Franciscans was only increased by this dis- 
aster, and each succeeding year brought additions to their num- 
ber. They pushed their missions into the interior of the country 
so rapidly that in less than two years they had established 
through the principal towns of the Indians no less than twenty 
mission houses. The presumed remains of these establishments 
are still occasionally to be found throughout the interior of the 
country. 



64 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER XII. 

SUBJECTION OF THE APALACHIAN INDIANS— CONSTRUCTION 
OF THE FORT, SEA WALL, ETC.— 1638— 1700. 

In the year 1638, hostilities were entered into between the 
Spanish settlements on the coast, and the Apalachian Indians, 
who occupied the country in the neighborhood of the river Su- 
wanee. The Spaniards soon succeeded in subduing their Indian 
foes ; and in 1640, large numbers of the Apalachian Indians 
were brought to St. i\.ugustine, and in alleged punishment for 
their outbreak, and with a sagacious eye to the convenience of the 
arrangement, were forced to labor upon the public works and 
fortifications of the city. At this period the English settlements 
along the coast to the northward, had begun to be formed, much 
to the uneasiness and displeasure of the Spanish crown, which for 
a long period claimed, by virtue of exploration and occupation, as 
well as by the ancient papal grant of Alexander, all the eastern 
coast of the United States. Their missionaries had penetrated 
Virginia before the settlement of Jamestown ; and they had built 
a fort in South Carolina, and kept up a garrison for some years 
in it. But the Spanish government had become too feeble to 
compete 'with either the English or the French on the seas ; and 
with the loss of their celebrated Armada perished forever their 
pretensions as a naval power. T^iey were therefore forced to 
look to the safety of their already established settlements in 
Florida ; and the easy capture of the fort at St. Augustine by 
the passing squadron of Drake, evinced the necessity of works of 
a much more formidable character. 

It is evident that the fort, or castle as it was usually desig- 
nated, had been then commenced, although its form was after- 
wards changed ; and for sixty years subsequently, these unfortu- 
nate Apalachian Indians were compelled to labor upon the works, 
until 1680, upon the recommendation of their mission fathers, 
they were relieved from further compulsory labor, with the un- 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 65 

derstanding that in -case of necessity they would resume their 
labors. 

Ill 1648, St. Augustine is described to have contained more 
than three hundred householders (vecinos), a flourishing monas- 
tery of the order of St. Francis with fifty Franciscans, men very 
zealous for the conversion of the Indians, and regarded by their 
countrymen with the highest veneration. Besides these there 
were in the city alone, a vicar, a parochial curate, a sujierior 
sacristan, and a chaplain attached to the castle. The parisli 
church was built of wood, the Bishop of Cuba, it is said, not be- 
ing able to afford anything better, his whole income being but 
four huiKlred pezos per annum, which he shared with Florida ; 
and sometimes he expended much more than his receipts. 

In 1665, Captain Davis, one of the English buccaneers and 
freebooters (then very numerous in the West Indies), with a fleet 
of seven or eight vessels came on the coast from Jamaica, to in- 
tercej)t the Spanish plate fleet on its return from New Spain to 
Europe ; but being disappointed in this scheme, he proceeded 
along the coast of Florida, and came off St. Augustine, where he 
landed and marched directly upon the town, which he sacked and 
plundered, without meeting the least opposition or resistance 
from the Spaniards, although they had then a garrison of two 
hundred men in the fort, which at that time was an octagon, 
fortified and defended by round towers. 

The fortifications, if this account be true, were probably 
then very incomplete ; and with a vastly inferior force it is not 
surprising that they did not undertake Avhat could only have been 
an inefiectual resistance. It does not appear that the fort was 
taken ; and the inhabitants retired probably within its enclosui'e 
with their valuables.* 

In the Spanish account of the various occurrences in this 
country, it is mentioned that in 1681, "the English having exam- 
ined a province of Florida, distant twelve leagues from another 
called New Castle, where the air is pleasant, the climate mild, 
and the lands very fertile, called it Salvania : and that knowing 
these advantages, a Quaker, oi' Shaker (a sect barbarous, impu- 



* I do not (hid any account of this expedition and capture of St. Au- 
gustine ill the lOnsayo Cronolot^iea. 



66 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

dent and abominable,) called William Penn, obtained a grant of 
it from Charles II., King of England, and made great efforts to 
colonize it." Such was the extent then claimed for the province 
of Florida, and such the opinion entertained of the Quakers. 

In 1681, Don Juan Marquez Cabrera, applied himself at 
once, upon his appointment to the governorship of Florida, to 
finish the castle ; and collected large quantities of stone, lime, 
timber, and iron, more than sufficient subsequently to complete 
it. About this period a new imjDulse was given to the extension 
of the mission for converting the Indians ; and large reinforce- 
ments of the clerical force were received from Mexico, Havana, 
and Spain ; and many of them received salaries from the crown. 
A considerable Indian town is spoken of at this period, as exist- 
ing six hundred varas north of St. Augustine, and called Maca- 
rasi, which would correspond to the place formerly occupied by 
Judge Douglas, deceased, and which has long been called Maca- 
riz. Other parts of the country were known by various names. 
Amelia Island was the province of Guale. The southern part 
of the country was known as the province of Carlos. Indian 
river was the province of Ys. Westwardly was the province of 
Apalachie ; while smaller divisions were designated by the names 
of the chiefs. 

It is hardly to be doubted, that the same spirit of oppression 
towards the Indians, exercised in the other colonies under Span- 
ish dominition, existed in Florida. It has been already men- 
tioned that the Apalachians were kept at hard labor upon the 
fortifications of St. Augustine ; and in 1680, the Yemasees, who 
had always been particularly peaceful and manageable, and 
whose principal town was Macarisqui, near St. Augustine, re- 
volted at the rule exercised over them by the Spanish authorities 
at St. Augustine, in consequencf of the execution of one of their 
chiefs by the order of the governor ; and six years afterwards 
they made a general attack upon the Spaniards, drove them 
within the walls of the castle, and became^ such mortal enemies to 
them, that they never gave a Sjianiard quarter, waylaying, and 
invariably massacreing any stragglers they could intercept out- 
side of the fort. 

In 1670, an English settlement was established near Port 
Royal, South Carolina, one hundred and five years subsequent to 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 67 

• 

the settlement of St. Augustine. The Spaniards regarded it as 
an infringement upon their rights ; and although a treaty, after 
this settlement, had been made between Spain and England, eon- 
firming to the latter all her settlements and islands, yet as no 
boundaries or limits were mentioned, their respective rights and 
boundaries remained a subject of dispute for seventy years. 

About 1675, the Spanish authorities at St. Augustine, having 
intelligence from ivhiic servnnti^ who fled to them, of the discon- 
tented and miserable situation of the colony in Carolina, ad- 
vanced with a party under arms as far as the Island of vSt. Helena, 
to dislodge or destroy the settlers. A treacherous colonist of the 
name of Fitzpatriclc, deserted to the Spaniards ; but the gover- 
nor, Sir John Yeamans, having received a reinforcement, held his 
ground; and a detachment of fiftv volunteers under Colonel God- 
frey, marched against the enemy, forcing them to retire from the 
Island of St. Helena, and retreat to St. Augustine.* 

Ten years afterwards, three galleys sailed from St. Augus- 
tine, and attacked a Scotch and English settlement at Port Royal, 
which had been founded by Lord Cardross, in 1681. The settle- 
ment was weak and unprotected, and the Spaniards fell upoTi 
them, killed several, whipped many, plundered all, and broke 
up the colony. Flushed with success, they continued their dep- 
redations on Edisto River, burning the houses, wasting the plan- 
tations, and robbing the settlers ; and finished their marauding 
expedition by capturing the brother of Governor Morton, and 
burning him alive in one of the galleys which a hurricane had 
driven so high upon land as to make it impossible to have it re- 
launched. Such at least is the English account of the matter : 
and thev say that intestine troubbis alone prevented immediate 
and signal retaliation by the South Carolinians. f 

One Captain, Don Juan de Aila, went to Spain in tlic year 
1687, in his own vessel, to procure additional forces and -ammu- 
nition for the garrison at St. Augustine. He received the men 
and munitions desired ; and, as a i-eward for his diligence and 
patriotism, he also received the privilege of carrying merchan- 
dise, duty free ; being also allowed to take twelve Spanish ne- 



«■ farroll'sS. C.. Vol. 1. p. (i2. 

t llivcrs' S. C. Hist. ('nil. i.. 1 t.'!. Do. AppLMidix. 42.'). Carroll's Coll., 
2(1 vol., S50. 



68 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

groes for the cultivation of the fields of Florida, of whom it is 
Haid there was a great want in that province. By a mischance, 
he Was only able to carry one negro there, with the troops and 
other cargo, and was received in the city with universal joy. 
This was the first occasion of the reception of African slaves ; 
although as has been heretofore mentioned, it was made a part 
of the royal stipulation with Menendez, that he should bring over 
five hundred negro slaves. 

Don Diego de Quiroga y Losada, the governor of Florida in 
1690, finding that the sea was making dangerous encroachments 
upon the shores of the town, and had reached even the houses, 
threatening to swallow them up, and render useless the fort 
which had cost so much to put in the state of completion in which 
it then was, called a public meeting of the chief men and citizens 
of the place, and proposed to them that in order to escape the 
danger which menaced them, and to restrain the force of the sea, 
they should construct a wall, which should run from the castle 
and cover and protect the city from all danger of the sea. The 
inhabitants not only approved of his proposal, but began the 
work with so much zeal, that the soldiers gave more than seven- 
teen hundred dollars of their wages, although they were very 
•much behind, not having been paid in six years ; with which the 
governor began to make the necessary preparations, and sent for- 
ward a dispatch to the home government upon the subject. 

The council of war of the Indies approved, in the following 
year, of the work of the sea wall, and directed the viceroy of New 
Spain to furnish ten thousand dollars for it, and directed that a 
plan and estimate of the work should be Ibrwarded. Quiroga. was 
succeeded in the governorship of Florida, by Don Laureano de Tor- 
res, who went forward with the work of the sea wall, and received 
for this purpose the means furnished by the soldiers, and one 
thousand dollars more, which they offered besides the two thou- 
sand dollars, and likewise six thousand dollars which had come 
from New Spain, remitted by the viceroy. Count de Galleo, for 
the purpose of building a tower, .as a look-out to observe the sur- 
rounding Indian settlements. Whether this tower was erected, 
or where, we have no certain knowledge. The towers erected 
on the governor's palace and at the northeast angle of the fort, 
were intended as look-outs both sea and landward. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 69 

The statements made in reference to the building of this 
wall, from the castle as far as the city, confirm the opinion pre- 
viously expressed, that the ancient and early settlement of the 
place was south of the public square, as the remains of the ancient 
sea wall extend to the basin at the Plaza. The top of this old 
sea wall is still visible along the centre of Bay street, where it 
occasionally appears above the level of the street ; and its gen- 
eral plan and arrangement are shown on several old maps and 
plans of the city. Upon a plan of the city made in 1665, it is 
represented as terniinating in a species of break-water at the pub- 
lic square. It is unnecessary to add that the present sea wall 
is a much superior structure to the old, and extends above twice 
the distance. Its cost is said to have been one hundred thousand 
dollars, and it was buildinc; from 1837 to 1843. 

In the year 1700, the work on the sea wall had progressed 
but slowly, although the governor had employed thirty stone- 
cutters at a time, and had eight yoke of oxen drawing stone to 
the landing, and two lime-kilns all the while at work. But the 
money previously provided, and considerable additional funds 
was requisite, resembling in this respect its successor. The new 
governor, De Cuniga, took the matter in hand, as he had mu('h 
experience in fortifications. The defences of the fort are spoken 
of as being at the time too weak to resist artillery, and the sea 
wall as being but slight work. 



70 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER XIII. 

ATTACK ON ST. AUGU8TINE BY GOVERNOR :M()0RE, OF SOUTH 
CAROLINA— DIFFICULTIES WITH THE GEORGIANS. 

1702—1732. 

Hostilities had broken out between England and Spain in 
1702. The English settlements in Carolina only numbered six 
or seven thousand inhabitants, when Governor Moore, who was 
an ambitious and energetic man, but with serious defects of char- 
acter, led an invading force' from Carolina against St. Augustine. 
The pretense was to retaliate ior old injuries, and, by taking the 
initiative, to prevent an attack upon themselves. The real mo- 
tive was said by Governor Moore's o]3ponents at home, to have 
been the acquisition of military reputation and private gain. 

The plan of the expedition embraced a combined land and 
naval attack ; and for this purpose six hundred provincial militia 
were embodied, with an equal number of Indian allies ; a portion 
of the militia, with the Indians, were to go inland by boats and 
by land, under the command of Colonel Daniel, who is spoken of 
as a good officer, while the main body proceeded with the gover- 
nor by sea in several merchant schooners and ships which had 
been impressed for the service. 

The Spaniards, who had received intimations of the contem- 
plated attack, placed themselves in the best posture of defence in 
their power, and laid up provisions in the castle to withstand a 
long siege. 

The forces under Colonel Daniel arrived in advance of the 
naval fleet of the expedition, and immediately marched upon the 
town. The inhabitants, upon his approach, retired with their 
most valuable effects within the spacious walls of the castle, and 
Colonel Daniel entered and took possession of the town, the larger 
part of which, it must be recollected, was at some distance from 
the castle. 

The quaint description of these events, given by Oldmixon. 
is as follows : 



OF ST. Al'GUSTINE, FI;ORIDA. 71 

" Ciil. T\()1). Diuiiel, a l>rave man, foiniiianded a party who were to go 
vip the river in periagas, and (;onie upon Augnstino on the land side, while 
the Governour sailed thither, and attacked it by sea. They both set out in 
August, 1702. Col. Daniel, in his way, took St. Johns, a small Spanish set- 
tlement; as also St. Mary's, another little village belonging to the Span- 
iards; after which he proceeded to Augustino, came before the town, en- 
tered and took it. Col. Moor not being yet arrived with the Heet. 

'■ The inhabitants having notice of the approach of the English, had 
packed up their best effects and retired with them into the castle, which 
was surrounded by a very deep and bnjad moat. 

"They had laid up provisions there for four months, and resolved to 
defend themselves to the la.st extremity. However, Col. Daniel found a 
considerable booty in the town. The ne.xtday the Governoiircame ashore, 
and his troops following him, they entrenched, posted their guards in the 
church, and blocked up the castle. The English held possession of the 
town a whole month: but finding they could do nothing for want of 
mortars and bombs, they despatched away a sloop for Jamaica; but the 
commander of the sUnip, instead of going thither, came to (.'arolina out of 
fear of treachery. Finding others offered to go in his stead, he proceeded 
in the voyage himself, after he liad lain some time at Charles-Town. 

" The Governour all this while lay before the castle of Augustino, in ex- 
pectation of the return of the sloop, which hearing nothing of, he sent Col. 
Daniel, who was the life of the action, to Jamaica on the same errand. 

"This gentleman, being hearty in the design, procured a supply of 
bombs, and returned towards Augustino. But in the mean time two ships 
appeared in the offing, which being taken to be two very large men of 
war, the Governour tho't fit to raise the .siege and abandon his ships, with a 
great riuantity of stores, anununition, and provisions, to the enemy. Upon 
which the two men of war entered the port of Augustino, and took the Gov- 
ernour's ships. 8 ):nosay ho burnt them himself Certain it is they were 
lost to the English, and that he returned to Charles-Town over land 300 
miles from Augu.stino. The two men of war that were thought to be so 
large, proved to be two small frigates, one of 82, and the other of 10 guns.* 

"When Col. Daniel came back to St. Augustino, he was cliased, but 
got away ; and Col. ^Eoor retreated with no great honor homewards. The 
periagas lay al^St. Jolins, whither the G,)vernour retired and so to fUiarles- 
Town, having lost but two men in the whole expedition.'' 

ArratomakaAV, king of the Yaiiuo.^eans, who coniuiaudod the 
Indians, retreated to the periagas witli the re.«t, and there slept 
upon his oars with a great deal of bravery and unconcern. The 
governor's sailors, taking a false alarm, and thinking the Span- 
iards were coming, did imt like this slow pace of the Indian king 



•■"■ There must l)e an error, of coui-sc, in this statementof an S2-gun ship 
entering St. Augustine, as the depth of water would never admit a vessel of 
over .'!06 tons : probably 82 should read 12 tons. <;. u. i'. 



72 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

in his flight, and to quicken him into it, bade him make more 
haste. But he replied, "No ; though your governor leaves you, I 
will not stir till I have seen all my men before me. 

The Spanish accounts say that he burned the town, and this 
statement is confirmed by the report made on the 18th July, 1740, 
by a committee of the House of Commons of the province of South 
Carolina, in which it is said, referring to these transactions, that 
Moore was obliged to retreat, hut not wit/iout first burning the 
town.* 

It seems that the plunder carried off by Moore's troops was 
considerable ; as his enemies charged at the time that he sent off 
a sloop-load to Jamaica, and in an old colonial document of South 
Carolina it is represented " that the late unfortunate, ill-contrived, 
and worst managed expedition against St. Augustine, was prin- 
cipally set on foot by the late governor and his adherents ; and 
that if any person in the said late assembly undertook to speak 
against it, and to show how unfit and unable we were at that time 
for such an attempt, he was presently looked upon by them as an 
enemy and traitor to his country, and reviled and affronted in 
the said assembly ; although the true design of the said expedition 
was no other than catching and making slaves of Indians for pri- 
vate advantage, and impoverishing the country. * * * And 
that the expedition was to enrich themselves will appear partic- 
ularly, because whatsoever booty, as rich silks, great quantity of 
church plate, with a great many other costly church ornaments 
and utensils taken by our soldiers at St. Augustine, are now de- 
tained in the possession of the said late governor and his officers. 
contrary to an act of the assembly made for an equal division of 
the same amongst the soldiers." f 

The Spanish accounts of this expedition of Moore's are very 
meagre. They designate him as the governor of St. George, by 
which name they called the harbor of Charleston ; and they also 
S])eak of the plunder of the town, and the burning of the greater 
part of the houses. Don Joseph de Curriga was then the gover- 
nor of the city, and had received just previous to the English 
attack, reinforcements from Havana, and had repaired and 
strengthened the fortifications. 



* ("arroU's Hist. Coll., vol. 2, p. :i52. 

t River.s" Hist. Sketches, S. C., app.. 450. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 73 

The retreat of the p]iigli.«h was celebrated with great rejoic- 
ing, by the Spaniard!^, who had been for three months shut up 
within the limited space of the walls of the castle : and they gladly 
repaired their ruined homes, and made good the ravages of the 
English invasion. An English account says that the two vessels 
which appeared off the bar and caused Moore's precipitate retreat, 
contained but two hundred men, and that had he awaited Colonel 
Daniers return with the siege guns and ammunition, the castle 
would have fallen into their hands. 

In the same year, the king of Spain, alarmed at the dangers 
which menaced his possessions in Florida, gave greater attention 
to the strengthening the defences of St. Augustine, and forwarded 
considerable reinforcements to the garrison, as well as additional 
supplies of munitions. 

• . The works were directed to be strengthened, which Governor 
Cuniga thought not as strong as had been represented, and that 
the sea wall in the process of erection was insufficient for the pur- 
pose for which it was designed. 

Sixty years had elapsed since the Apalachian Indians liad 
been conquered and compelled to lal)or upon the fortifications of 
St. Aug.ustine ; their chiefs now asked that they might be relieved 
from further compulsory labor ; and after the usual number of 
references and reports and informations, through the Spanish cir- 
cumlocution officers, this was graciously granted in a compulsoi-y 
form, until their services should be again required. 

During the year 1712, a great scarcity of provisions, caused 
by the failure of the usual supply vessels, reduced the inhabitants 
of St. Augustine to the verge of starvation ; and, for two or three 
months, they were obliged to live upon horses, cat«, dogs, and 
other disgusting animals. It seems strange, that after a settle- 
ment of nearly one hundred and fifty years, the Spaniards iii. 
Florida should still be dependent upon the importation of pro- 
visions for their support ; and that anything like the distress in<li- 
cated should prevail, with the abundant resources they had, from 
the fish, oysters, turtle, and clams of the sea, and the arrow-root 
and cabbage-tree palm of the land. 

The English settlements were now extending into the inUi- 
rior portions of South Carolina ; and the French had renewed 
their efibrts at settlement and colonization upon the rivers dis- 
G 



*14 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

charging into the Gulf of Mexico. All three nations were com- 
petitors for the trade with the Indians, and kept up an intriguing 
rivalship for this trade for more than a hundred years. 

There seems to have been at this period a policy pursued by 
the Spanish authorities in Florida of the most reprehensible char- 
acter. The strongest efibrts were made to attach all the Indian 
tribes to the Spanish interests ; and they were encouraged to 
carry on a system of plunder and annoyance upon the English 
settlements of Carolina. They particularly seized upon all the 
negroes they could obtain, and carried them to the governor at 
St. Augustine, who invariably refused to surrender them, alleg- 
ing that he was acting under the instructions of his government in 
so doing. 

In 1704, Governor Moore had made a sweeping and vigor- 
ous excursion against the Indian towns in Middle Florida, all of 
whom were in the Spanish interest ; and had broken up and de- 
stroyed the towns and missions attached to them. In 1725, Col- 
onel Palmer determined, since no satisfaction could be obtained 
for the incursions of the Spanish Indians, and the loss of their 
slaves, to make a descent upon them ; and with a party of three 
hundred men entered Florida, with an intention of visiting upon 
the province all the desolation of retributive warfare. 

He went up to the very gates of St. Augustine, and com- 
pelled the inhabitants to seek protection within the castle. In 
his course he swept every thing before him, destroying every 
house, field and improvement within his reach ; canying off the 
live stock, and everything else of value. The Spanish Indians who 
fell within his power, were slain in large numbers, and many 
were taken prisoners. Outside of the walls of St. Augustine, 
nothing was left undestroyed ; and the Spanish authorities re- 
ceived a memorable lesson in the law of retribution. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 75 



CHAPTER XIV. 
kiegp: of bt. augustixe ijy Oglethorpe— 1732— 1740. 

Difficulties existed for many years subsequently between the 
Spanish and English settlements. In 1732, Oglethorpe planted 
his colony in Georgia, and extended his settlements along the 
coast towards Florida, claiming and occupying the country up to 
the margin of the St. Johns, and established a post at St. George 
Island. This was deemed an invasion of the territory of Spain ; 
and the post was att-acked unfairly, as the English say, and some 
of their men murdered. Oglethorpe, upon this, acting under the 
instructions of the home government, commenced hostilities by 
arranging a joint att-aek of the forces of South Carolina and Geor- 
gia, with a view to the entire conquest of Florida. 

The instructions of the king of England to Oglethorpe were, 
that he should make a naval and land attack upon St. Augus- 
tine ; " and if it shall please God to give you success, you are 
either to demolish the fort or bastions, or put a garrison in it, in 
case you shall have men enough for that puipose ; which last, it 
is thought will be the best way to prevent the Spaniards from, 
endeavoring to retake and settle the said place again, at any time 
hereafter."* 

Don Manuel Monteano was then governor of Florida, and in 
command of the garrison. The city and castle were previously 
in a poor condition to withstand an attack from a well-prepared 
foe; and on the 11th of November, 1737, Governor Monteano 
writes to the governor-general of Cuba, that " the fort of this 
place is its only defence ; it has no casemates for the shelter of 
the men, nor the necessary elevation to the counter-scarp, nor 
covert ways, nor ravelins to the curtains, nor other exterior works 
that could give time for a long defence ; but it is thus naked out- 
side, as it is without soul within, for there are no cannon that 



* State Papers of Georgia. G. A. Hist. Soc. 



76 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES' 

could be fired-twenty-four hours, and though there were, artillery- 
men to manage them are wanting." 

Under the superintendence of an able officer of engineers, 
Don Antonio de Arredondo, the works were put in order ; the 
ramparts were heightened and casemated ; a covered way was 
made, by planting and embanking four thousand stakes ; bomb- 
proof vaults were constructed, and entrenchments thrown up 
around the town, protected by ten salient angles, many of which 
are still visible. The gan'ison of the town was about seven hun- 
dred and forty soldiers, according to Governor Monteano's return 
of troops. On the 25th March, 1740, the total population of St. 
Augustine, of all classes, was two thousand one hundred and forty- 
three. 

Previous to his attack upon the place,' General OglethorjDe 
obtained the following information from prisoners whom he took 
at the outposts. He says : " They agree that there are fifty pieces 
of cannon in the castle at St. Augustine, several of which are 
brass, from twelve to forty-eight pounds. It has four bastions. 
The walls are of stone, and casemated. The internal square is 
sixty yards. The ditch is forty feet wide, and twelve feet deep, 
six of which is sometimes filled with water. The counter-scarp 
is faced with stone. They have lately made a covered way. The 
town is fortified with an entrenchment, salient angles and re- 
doubts, which inclose about half a mile in length, and a quarter 
of a mile in width. The inhabitants and garrison, men, women 
and children, amount to above two thousand five hundred. For 
the garrison the king pays eight companies, sent from Spain two 
years since for the invasion of Georgia, upon establishment fifty- 
three men each, three companies of foot and one of artillery, of 
the old garrison, and one troop of horse one hundred each upon 
establishment ; of these, one hundred are at St. Marks, ten days' 
march from St. Augustine ; upon the Gulf of Mexico, one hun- 
dred are disposed in several small forts." 

Of these out-posts, there were two, one on each side of the 
river St. Johns — at Picolata and immediately opposite — and at 
Diego. The purpose of the forts at Picolata was to guard the 
passage of the river, and to keep open the communication with 
St. Marks and Pensacola ; and when threatened with the inva- 
sion of Oglethorpe, messengers were dispatched to the governor 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 77 

of Pensacola for aid, and also to Mexico by the same route. The 
fort at Diego was but a small work, erected by Don Diego de Spi- 
nosa, upon his o^yn estate ; and the remains of it, with one or two 
cannon, are still visible. Fort Moosa was an out-post at the 
place now known by that name, ou the North river, about two 
miles north of St. Augustine. A fortified line, a considerable 
portion of which may now be traced, extended across from the 
stockades on the St. Sebastian to Fort Moosa. Communication 
by a tide-creek existed through the marshes, between the castle at 
St. Augustine and Fort Moosa. 

Oglethorpe first attacked the two forts at Picolata, one of 
which, called Fort Poppa, or St. Francis de Poppa, was a place of 
some strength. Its remains still exist, about one-fourth of a mile 
north of the termination of the Bellamy road, its earthworks be- 
ing still strongly marked. 

After a slight resistance, both forts fell into his hands, much 
to the annoyance of Governor Monteano. Oglethorpe speaks of 
Fort Francis as being of much importance, "as commanding the 
passes from St. Augustine to Mexico, and into the country of the 
Creek Indians, and also being upon the ferry, where the troops 
which come from St. Augustine must pass." He found in it, one 
mortar piece, two carriages, three small guns, ammunition, one 
hundred and fifty shells, and fifty glass bottles full of gunpowder, 
with fuses — a somewhat novel missile of war. 

The English general's plan of operation was, that the crews 
and troops upon the vessels should land, and throw up batteries 
upon Anastasia Island, from thence bombarding the town ; while 
he himself designed to lead the attack on the land side. Having 
arrived in position, he gave the signal to attack the fleet, by send- 
ing up a i-ocket ; but no response came from the vessels, and he 
had the mortification of being obliged to withdraw his troops. 
The troops were unable to eftect a landing from the vessels, in 
consequence of a- number of armed Spanish galleys having been 
drawn up inside the bar ; so that no landing could be made ex- 
cept under a severe fire, while the gaUeys weiv protected from 
an attack by the ships, in consequence of the shoal water. 

He then prepared to reduce the town by a regular siege, 
with a strict blockade by sea. He liojted, by driving the inhab- 
itants into the castle, so to encumber the governor with useless 



78 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

mouths^ to reduce him to the necessity of a surrender, to avoid 
starvation. The town was placed under the range of his heavy 
artillery and mortars, and soon became untenable, forcing the 
citizens generally to seek the shelter of the fort. 

Colonel Vanderduysen was posted at Point Quartel ; and 
others of the troops upon Anastasia Island, and the north beach. 
Three batteries were erected : one on Anastasia Island, called 
the Poza, which consisted of four eighteen-pounders and one 
nine-pounder ; one on the point of the wood of the island, mount- 
ing two eighteen pounders. The remains of the Poza battery are 
still to be seen, almost as distinctly marked as on the day of its 
erection. Four mortars and forty cohorns were employed in the 
siege. 

The siege began on the 12th June ; and on the 25th June a 
night sortie was made from the castle against a portion of the 
troops under command of Colonel Palmer, who were encamped 
at Fort Moosa, including a company of Scotch Highlanders, num- 
bering eighty-five men, under their chief, Captain Mcintosh, all 
ec|uipped in Highland dress. This attack was entirely success- 
ful, and the English sustained a severe loss, their colonel being 
killed, with twenty Highlanders, twenty-seven soldiers, and a 
number of Indians. 

This affair at Fort Moosa has generally .been considered as a 
surprise, and its disastrous results as the consequence of careless- 
ness and disobedience of the orders of Oglethorpe. Captain Mc- 
intosh, the leader of the Highlanders, was taken prisoner, and 
finally transferred to Spain. From his prison at St. Sebastian, 
under date of 20th June, 1741, he gives the following account of 
the matter : 

" I listed seventy men, all in Highlami dress, and marched to the siege, 
and was ordered to scout nigh St. Augustine and molest the enemy, while 
the general and the rest of his little army went to an i,sland where we could 
have no succor of them. I punctually obeyed my orders, until seven hun- 
dred Spaniards sallied out from the garrison, an hour befiirc daylight. They 
did not surprise us, for we were all under arms, ready to receive them, which 
we did briskly, keeping a constant firing for a quarter of an liovir, wlicn they 
prest on with numbers ; was obliged to take our swords until the most of 
us were shot and cut to pieces. You are to observe we had but eighty men ; 
and the engagement was in view of the rest of our army, but they could not 
come to our assistance, by being in tlie aforesaid island, under the enemy's 
guns. They had twenty prisoners, a few got off, there.st killed; as we were 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 79 

well informed by .some of themselves, they had three hundred killed on the 
spot,* besides several wounded. We were all stripped naked of clothes, 
brought to St. Augustine, where we remained three months in close c<jn- 
finement.f 

This officer was Captain John Mcintosh ; and his son, Brig- 
adier-General Mcintosh, then a youth of fourteen, was present in 
the engagement, and escaped without injury. The family of the 
Mclntoshes have always been conspicuous in the history of Geor- 
gia. 

The large number of persons collected within the walls of 
the castle, and under the protection of its battlements, soon gave 
rise to serious apprehensions on the part of the besieged, of being 
reduced by starvation to the necessity of a speedy surrender. 
The batteries of Oglethorpe were planted at so great a distance 
that he could produce but little effect by his shot or shells upon 
the castle, although he rendered the city itself untenable. The 
heat of the season and the exposure, to which the Provincial 
militia were unaccustomed, soon produced considerable sickness 
and discouragement in the invading force, and afiected Ogle- 
thorpe himself. 

The Spanish governor sent most urgent messages to the 
governor of the Island of Cuba, which were transmitted by run- 
ners along the coast, and thence by small vessels across to Ha- 
vana. In one of these letters he says, "My greatest an.xiety is 
for provisions ; and if they do not come, there is no doubt of our 
dying by the hands of hunger." In another, he says, " I assure 
your Lordship that it is impossible to express the confusion of the 
])lace, for we have no protection except the fort, and all the rest 
is open field. The families have abandoned their houses, and 
come to put themselves under the guns, which is pitiable ; though 
nothing gives me anxiety but the want of provisions ; and if your 
Lordship, for want of competeiit force cannot send relief, we all 
must perish."! 



« This statement is unsupi)orted liy either Spanisli or English author- 
ity. The writer of the letter, through want of familiarity with their lan- 
guage, misunderstood his informants, in all probability, as to the extent of 
tlieir loss. 

t M8S. in Geo. Hist. Soc. Library. 

1 Monteano, MSS., Archives St. Auyu-stinc. 



80 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

With the exception of the Fort Moosa afiair, the hostilities 
were confined to the exchange of shots between the castle and the 
batteries. Considerable discrepancy exists between the Spanish 
and English accounts, as to the period when the garrison was re- 
lieved : it was the communication of the fact of relief having 
been received, which formed the ostensible ground of abandoning 
the siege by Oglethorpe ; but the Spanish governor asserts that 
these provision vessels did not arrive until the siege was raised. 
The real fact, I am inclined to think, is that the provision vessels 
arrived at Mosquito, a harbor sixty miles below, where they were 
to await orders from Governor Monteano, as to the mode of get- 
ting discharged,* and that the information of their arrival, being 
known at St. Augustine, was communicated to the English, and 
thus induced their raising the siege ; in fact, the hope of starving 
out the garrison was the only hope left to Oglethorpe ; his strength 
was insufficient for an assault, and his means inadequate to re- 
duce the castle, which was well manned and well provided with 
means of defence. 

It was in truth a hopeless task, under the circifmstances, for 
Oglethorpe to persevere ; and it is no impeachment of his cour- 
age or his generalship, that he was unable to take a fortress of 
really very respectable strength. 

The siege continued Irom the 13th June to the 20th July, a 
period of thirty-eight days. The bombardment was kept up 
twenty days, but owing to the lightness of the guns and the long 
range, but little effect was produced on the strong Avails of 
the castle. Its spongy, infrangible walls received the balls from 
the batteries like a cotton bale, or sand battery, almost without 
making an impression ; this may be seen on examination, since 
the marks remain to this day, as they were left at the end of the 
siege, one hundred and seventeen years ago. 

The prosecution of the siege having become impracticable, 
preparations were made for retiring ; and Oglethorpe, as a par- 
donable and characteristic protest against the assumption of his 
acting from any coercion, with drums beating and banners dis- 
played, crossed over to the main land, and marched in full view 



J^Ionteano, M.S8. Lottor of 28th July, 1740. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 81 

of the castle, to his encampment three miles distant, situated 
probably at the point now known as Pass Navarro. 

Great credit and respect have been deservedly awarded to 
Governor Monteano, for the courage, skill, and perseverence with 
which he sustained the siege. 

It is well known that the English general had, in a few 
months, an ample opportunity of showing to his opponent that 
his skill in defending his own territory under the most disadvan- 
tageous circumstances, was equal to that of the accomphished 
Monteano himself. The defence of Frederica, and signal defeat 
of the Spanish forces at Fort Simons, will ever challenge for Ogle- 
thorpe the highest credit for the most sterling c{ualities of a good 
general and a great man. 

Two years subsequently, Oglethorpe again advanced into 
Florida, appeared before the gates of St. Augustine, and endeav- 
ored to induce the garrison to march out to meet him ; but they 
kept within their walls, and Oglethorpe in one of his dispatches 
.says, in the irritation caused by their prudence, ''that they were 
so meek there was no provoking them." As in this incursion he 
had no object in view but a devastation of the country, and har- 
rassing the enemy, he shortly withdrew his forces. 

A committee of the South Carolina House of Commons, in a 
report upon the Oglethoi'pe expedition, thus speaks of St. Augus- 
tine, evidentlv smarting under the disappointment of their recent 
defeat : 

" July 1st, 1741. 
"St. Augustine, in the possession of the crown of Spain, is well known 
to be situated Ijut little distance from hence, in latitude thirty degrees, in 
Florida, the next territory to us. It is maintained by his Catholic Majesty, 
partly to preserve his claim to Florida, and partly that it may be of service 
to the plate-tleets when coming through the gulf, by showing lights to 
them along the coast, and by being ready to give assistance when any of 
them are cast away thereabout. The castle, by the largest account, doth 
not cover more than one acre of ground, but is allowed on all hands to be 
a place of great strength, and liath been usually garrisoned with about 
three or four hundred men of the king's regular troops. The town is not 
very large, and but indifferently fortified. The inhabitants, numy of which 
are mulattoes of savage dispositions, arc all in the king's pay; also being 
registered from their birth, and a severe penalty laid on any master of a 
ve-ssel that shall attempt to carry any of them off. These are formed into 
a militia, and have been generally comi>uted to be near about the same 
number as the regular troops. Thus relying wholly on the king's pay for 



82 thf: history and antiquities 

tlieir subsistence, their tliouglits never turned to trade or even agriculture, 
but depending on foreign supplies for the most common necessaries of life, 
they spent their time in universal, perfietual idleness. From such a state, 
mischievous inclinations naturally s]>ring up in such a people; and hav- 
ing leisure and opi)ortunity, ever since they had a neighbor, the fruits of 
whose industry excited tlieir desires and envy, they have not failed to carry 
those inclinations into a(;tion as often as they could, without the least re- 
gard to 2)eace or war sul>sisting between the two crowns of Great Britain 
and Spain, or to stipulations agreed upon between the two governments."* 

Among the principal grievances set forth in this report, was 
the carrying off and enticing and liarhoring their slaves, of which 
a number of instances are enumerated ; and they attributed 
the negro insurrection which occurred in South Carolina, in 1739, 
to the connivance and agency of the Spanish authorities at St. 
Augustine ; and they proceed in a climax of indignation to hurl 
their denunciation at the supposed authors of their misfortunes, 
in the following terms : "With indignation we look at St. Augus- 
tine (like another Sallee !) That den of thieves and ruffians! 
receptacle of debtors, servants and slaves ! bane of industry and 
society ! and revolved in our minds all the injuries this province 
had received from thence, ever since its first settlement. That 
they had from first to last, in times of profoundest peace, both 
publickly and privately, hy themselves, Indians, and Negroes, in 
every shape molested us, not without some instance of uncommon 
cruelty." t 

It is very certain there was on each side enough supposed 
causes of provocation to induce a far from amiable state of feeling 
between these neighboring colonies. 



* Report upon Expedition to St. Augustine. Carroll's Coll., 2d vol. p. 
354. 

t Carroll's Hist. Coll. S. C. p. 359. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 83 



CHAPTER XV. 

COMPLETION OF THE CASTLE— DESCRIPTIONS OF ST. AUGUS- 
TINE A CENTURY ACO— ENGLISH OCCUPATION OP 
FLORIDA.— 1755— 1763— 1783. 

Don Aloiizo Fei'naiidez de Herrera was appointed governor 
of Florida in 1755, and completed the exterior works and finish 
of the fort. It is this governor who erected the tablet over its 
main entrance, with the Spanish coat of arms sculptured in alto, 
relievo, with the following inscription beneath: 

REYNANDO EN ESPANA EL SEN'^ 

DON FERNANDO SEXTO Y SIENDO 

GOV"»^ Y CAP^ DE ES^ C° S^^ AUG^ DE 

LA FLORIDA Y SUS PROVA EL MARISCAL 

DE CAMPO D^ ALONZO FERN"*^ HEREDA 

ASI CONCLUIO ESTE CASTELLO EL AN 

OD 1756 DIRP^ENDO LAS OBRAS EL 

CAP. INGN'^*^ DN PEDRO DE BROZAS 

Y GARAY. 

DON FERDINAND THE SIXTH, BEING KING OF SPAIN, AND 
THE FIELD MARSHAL, DON ALONZO FERNANDO HEREDA, BE- 
ING GOVERNOR AND CAPTAIN-GENERAL OF THIS PLACE, ST. 
AU(;USTINE, OF FLORIDA, AND ITS PROVINCE. THIS FORT 
WAS FINISHED IN THE YEAR 175(i. THE WORKS WERK DI- 
RECTED BY THE CAPTAIN-EN(}INEER, DON PEDRO uk BRAZOS 
Y GARAY. 

I am not sure ])ut that the boastful governor might with 
equal propriety and truth have put a similar inscription at the 
city gate, claiming tlie town also as a finished city. 

The first fort erect(>d was called San Juan de Finos, and 
j>robably the same name attached to the present fort at the cora- 
inencenient of its erection ; when it acquired the name of St. 
Mark, I have not discovered. The Apalachian Indians were em- 
ployed upon it for more than sixty years, and to their eflbrts are 



84 Tin-: iris'njRV and antiquities 

probably diK; the evidencoK (jf iinmcnsc lubdf in tho corrstr'action 
III' llic ditch, the ramparts and gL'icis, and the a[>[>i-oMclii's ; whiU? 
the huge mass of stone contained in its solid walls, must have le- 
quired the labor of hundreds of persons for many long years, in 
procuring and cutting the stone in the quarries on the island, 
ti-aiisporting it to the water, and across the bay, and fashioning 
and raising them to their places. Besides the Indians emi)loyc(l, 
Home labor was constantly bestowed by th(; garrison; and for a 
considerable period, convicts were brought hither from Me.xico to 
(;arry on the public works. Duiing th<; works of extension and 
repair efi'ected by Monteano, previous to tho siege by Oglethorpe, 
he employed upon it one hundred and forty of these Mexican 
convicts. The southwestern basin is said to have been ci^nipleted 
by Monteano. The bastions boi-e the names resj)ectively of St. 
Paul, St. Petei-, St. James, etc. 

The whole work I'emains now as it was in 1756, with the ex- 
ception of the water battery, which was reconstructed by tli(i gov- 
ernment of the United States in 1842-3. The complement ot 
its guns is one hundred, and its lull garrison establishment re- 
quires one thousand hk'h. It is built upon the i)lan of Vaiiban, 
and is considered by militaty men as a very creditable wink ; its 
strength and efficiency have been well tested in the old times ; 
for it has ntiver been taken, although twice besieged, and several 
times attacked. Its frowning battlements and sepulchral vaidts 
will long stand after we and those of our d;iy shall b(> numbered 
with that long past, of which it is itsella nieinorial ; of its legends 
connected with the dark chambers and prison vaults, the chains, 
the instruments of torture, the skeletons walled in, its closed and 
hidden recesses — of Coacouchee's escape, and many another tale, 
there is much to say; l)ut it is better said within its grim walls, 
where the eye and the imagination can go together, in weaving a 
web of mystery and awe over its sad assocnations, to tlu; music ot 
the grating bolt, the echoing tread, and the clanking chain. 

Of the city itself, we have the following description in 1754 : 

"It is ))uilt on a little buy, at the foot of a hill sliadcid by tree*, and 
forms an oblong stiuarc, divided into four streets, and lias two full streets, 
which cut each other at right angles. The lioiises are well built and regu- 
lar. They have only one ehurdi, which is called after the city. St. .loliii's 
Fort, standing about a mile nortii of it, is a strong, irregular fortification, 
well mounted with cannon, and eai)al)le of making a long defence." 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA 85 

I am inclined to think that the ?9«7(' between the fort and the 
city, and the hill at the foot of which, he says, the city was built, 
existed only in the focus of the writer's spectacles. 

The provinces of Florida were ceded by treaty to England 
in the year 1763, and the Spanish inhabitants very generally left 
the country, which had then been under Spanish rule for near 
two hundred years ; and certainly in no portion of this cmuitry 
had less progress been made. Beyond the walls occupied by its 
garrison, little had been attempted or accomplished in these two 
hundred years. This was in part, perhaps, attributable to the 
circumstances of the country — ^the frequent hostility of the Indi- 
ans, and the want of that mutual support given by neighboidioods, 
which in Florida are less practicable than elsewhere ; but it was 
still more owing to the character of the Spanish inhabitants, who 
were more soldiers than civilians, and more townsmen than agri- 
culturists ; at all events, at the cession of Florida to Great Brit- 
ain, the number of inhabitants was not over five thousand. 

Of the period of the English occupation of Florida, we have 
very full accounts. It was a primary object with the British 
government, to colonize and settle it ; and inducements to emi- 
grants were strongly put forth, in various publications. The work 
of Roberts was the first of these, and was followed in a few years 
by those of Bartram, Stork, and Romans. The works of both 
Roberts and Stork, contain plans and minute descriptions of St. 
Augustine. The plan of the town in Stork, represents every 
building, lot, garden, and flower-bed in the place, and gives a 
very accurate view of its general appearance. 

The descriptions vary somewhat. Roberts, who published his 
work the year of the cession, 1763, shows in connection with his 
plan of the town, an Indian village on the point south of the city. 
at the powder-house, and another just north of the city. The 
one to the north has a church. A negro fort is shown about a 
mile to the northward. Oglethorpe's landing place is shown on 
Anastasia Island, and a small fort on the main land south of the 
city. The depth of water on the bar is marked as being at low 
water, eight feet. 

Roberts describes the city as "running along the shore at the 
foot of a pleasant hill, adorned with trees ; its form is oblong, di- 
vided by four regular streets, crossing each other at right angles ; 



86 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

down by the seaside, about three-fourths of a mile south of the 
town, standeth the church, and a monastery of St. Augustine. 
The best built part of the town is on the north side, leading to 
the castle, which is called St. John's Fort. It is a square build- 
ing of soft stone, fortified with whole bastions, having a rampart 
of twenty feet high, with a parapet nine feet high, and it is case- 
mated. The town is fortified with bastions, and with cannon. 
On the north and south, without the walls of the city, are the In- 
dian towns." 

The next plan we have, is in the work by Dr. Stork, the 
third edition of which was published in 1769. He gives a beau- 
tiful plan of the place. Shows the fort as it now exists, with its 
various outworks ; three churches are designated, one on the pub- 
lic square at its southwest corner; another on St. George street, 
.on the lot on the west side, south of Green lane, and a Dutch 
church near where the Roman Catholic cemetery now exists. 
From the size of the plan it does not embrace the Indian village. 
The present United States Court-house was the governor's official 
residence, and is represented as having attached to it a beautiful 
garden. The Franciscan house or convent is shown where the 
barracks are now, but difl'erent in the form of the buildings. 
With the exception of the disappearance of a part of one street, 
then existing, there appears veiy little change from the present 
plan of the town and buildings. 

He describes the fort as being finished "according to the 
modern taste of military architecture," and as making a very 
handsome appearance, and "that it might justly be deemed the 
prettiest fort in the king's dominion." He omits the pleasant 
hill from his description, and says " the town is situated near the 
glacis of the fort ; the streets are regularly laid out, and built 
narrow for the purposes of shade. It is above half a mile in 
length, regularly fortified with bastions, half-bastions, and a ditch ; 
that it had also several rows of the Spanish bayonet along the 
ditch, which formed so close a chevaux defrizc, with their pointed 
leaves, as to be impenetrable ; the southern bastions were built of 
stone. In the middle of the town is a spacious square, called the 
parade, open towards the harbor ; at the bottom of the square is 
the governor's house, the apartments of which are spacious and 
suitable ; suited to the climate, with high windows, a balcony in 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 87 

front, and galleries on botli sides ; to the back of the house is 
joined a tower, called in America a look-out, from which there is 
an extensive pi'ospect towards the sea, as well as inland. There 
are two churches within the walls of the town, the parish church, 
a plain building, and another belonging to the convent of Fran- 
ciscan Friars, which is converted into barracks for the garrison. 
The houses are built of free-stone, commoidy two stories high, two 
rooms upon a floor, with large windows and balconies ; before the 
entr}' of most of the houses, runs a portico of stone arches. The 
roofs are commonly flat. The Spaniards consulted convenience 
more than taste in their buildings. The number of houses within 
the town and lines, when the Spaniards left it, was about nine 
hundred; many of them, especially in the snburbs, being l)uiltof 
wood, are now gone to decay. The inhabitants were of all col- 
ors, whites, negroes, mulattoes, Indians, etc. At the evacuation 
of St. Augustine, the population was five thousand seven hun- 
dred, including the garrison of two thousand and five hundred 
men. Half a mile from the town to the we.st. is a line with a 
broad ditch and bastions, running from the St. Sebastian creek to 
St. Marks river. A mile further is another fortified line with 
some redoubts, forming a second communication between a stoc- 
cata fort upon St. Sebantian river, and Fort Moosa, upon St 
Marks river. 

"Within the first line near the town, was a small settlement 
of Germans, who had a church of their own. Upon the St. Marks 
river, within the second lilu^ was also an Indian town, with a 
church built of free-stone ; what is very remarkable, it is in good 
taste, though built by the Indians." 

The two lines of defence here spoken of may still be traced. 
The nearest one is less than one-fourth of a mile from the city 
gate, and the other at the well-known place called the stoqkades, 
the stakes driven to form which still distinctly mark the place ; 
and the ditch and embankment can be traced for a considerable 
distance through the grounds attached to my residence. 

A letter-writer, who dates at St. Augustine, May, 1774, says, 
" This town is now truly become a heap of ruins, a fit receptacle 
for the wretches of inhabitants." (Rather a dyspeptic descrip- 
tion, in all probability.) 



88 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

A bridge was built across the Sebastian river by the Englisli, 
"but the great depth of the water, joined to the instability of the 
bottom, did not suffer it to remain long, and a ferry is now estab- 
lished in its room ; the keeper of the ferry has fifty pounds per 
annum allowed him, and the inhabitants pay nothing for crossing, 
except after dark." 

The English constructed large buildings for barracks, char- 
acterized by Romans " as such stupendous piles of buildings, which 
were large enough to contain five regiments, when it is a matter 
of great doubt whether there will ever be a necessity to keep one 
whole regiment here. The materials for this great barracks were 
brought from New York, and far inferior to those found on the 
spot ; yet the freight alone amounted to more than their value 
when landed." " It makes us almost believe," says the elaborate 
Romans, "that all this show is in vain, or at most, that the Eng- 
lish were so much in dread of mosquitoes, that they thought a 
large army requisite to drive off these formidable foes." "To be 
serious," says he, "this fort and barracks add not a little to the 
beauty of the prospect ; but most men would think that the 
money spent on this useless parade, would have been better laid 
'out on roads and fences through the province ; or, if it must be 
in forts, why not at Pensacola ?" 

There is a manuscript work of John Gerard Williams de 
Brahm, existing in the library of Harvard University, which con- 
tains some particulars of interest, relative to Florida at the period 
of the English occupation. 

He states the number of inhabitants of East Florida, which 
in those days meant mostly St. Augustine, from 1663 to 1771, as 
follows: householders, besides women, etc., two hundred and 
eighty-eight ; imported by Mr. Turnbull from Minorca, etc., one 
thousand four hundred ; negroes, upwards of nine hundred. Of 
lihese, white heads of families, one hundred and forty-four were 
married, which is just one-half; thirty-one are storekeepers and 
traders ; three haber-dashers, fifteen inn-keepers, forty-five arti- 
ficers and mechanics, one hundred and ten planters, four hunters, 
six cow-keepei's, eleven overseers, twelve draftsmen in employ of 
government, besides mathematicians ; fifty-eight had left the prov- 
ince ; twenty-eight dead, of whom four were killed acting as con- 
stables, two hanged for pirating. Among the names of those 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE. FLORIDA. 89 

then residing in East Florida are mentioned Sir CMiarles Burdett. 
William Drayton, Esq., planter. Chief- Justice ; Rev. John Forbes, 
parson. Judge of Admiralty and Councillor ; Rev. N. Eraser, par- 
son at Mosquito ; Governor James Grant, Hon. John Moultrie, 
planter and Lieutenant-Governor ; William Stork, Esq., historian ; 
Andrew Turnbull, Esq., H. M. Counsellor ; Bernard Romans, 
draftsman, etc., William Bartram, planter ; James Moultrie, Esq. 
He says, the light-house on Anastasia Island had been con- 
structed and built of mason-work by the Spaniards ; and, in 1769, 
by order of General Haldimand, it was raised sixty feet higher 
in carpenter's work, had a cannon planted on the top, which is 
tired the very moment the flag is hoisted, for a signal to the town 
and pilots that a vessel is off. The light-house has two flag-staffs. 
one to the south and one to the north ; on either of which the flag 
is hoisted, viz : to the .south if the vessel comes from thence, and 
the north if the vessel comes that way. 

"The town is situated in a liealthy zone, is surrounded with salt water 
marslies, not at all prejudicial to healtli ; their evaporations are swept away 
in the day time by tlie easterly winds, and in the niglit season by the west- 
erly winds trading back to the eastward. At the time when the Spaniards 
left the town, all the gardens were well stocked with fruit trees, viz: figs, 
guavas, plantain, pomegranates, lemons,' limes, citrons, shaddock, berga- 
niot, China and Seville oranges, the latter fullof fruit throughout the whole 
winter season ; and the pot-lierbs, though suspended in their vegetation, 
were seldom destroyed by cold. The town is three-quarters of a mile in 
length, but not ((uite a quarter wide ; had four churches ornamently built 
with stone in the Spanish taste, of which one within one without the town 
still exist. One is pulled down ; that is the (lernian church, but tlie steeple 
is i>reserved as an ornament to the town ; and the other, viz : the convent 
church and convent in town is in the body of the barracks. All houses are 
built of masonry ; their entrances are shaded by jiiazzas, sui)i>orted by Tus- 
can ])iilars or pilasters, against the south sun. The houses have to the east 
windows projecting sixteen or eighteen inches into the street, very wide, 
and pro|)ortionally high. On the west side, their windows are commonly 
very small, and no opening of any kind to the north, on which side they 
have double walls six or eight feet asunder, ff)rminga kind of gallery, which 
answers for ceil'ars and pantries. Before most of the entries were arbors 
and vines, producing plenty of very good grapes. No house has any ehim- 
ney for a fire-place ; tl)e Si)aniards made use of stone urns, filled them with 
coals, left them in their kitcliens in the afternoon, and set them at sunset 
in their bed-rooms, to defend themselves against tliose winter seasons, which 
required such care. The governor's residence has both side piazzas, viz : a 
double one to the south, and a single one to tlie north ; also a Belvidere and 
a grand portico decorated witli Doric i>illars and entablatures. On tlic north 



90 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

end of the town is a caseniated fort, witli four Iwistions, a ravelin, counter- 
scarp, and a glacis bailt witli quarried sliell-stones, and constructed accord- 
ing to the rudiments of Marechal de Vauban. This fort commands the road 
of the bay, the town, its environs, and both Tok>mako stream and Matan- 
zas creek. The soil in the gardens and environs of the town is diiefiy 
sandy and marshy. The Spaniards seem to have had a notion of manuring 
their land with shells one foot thick. 

"Among the three thousand who evacuated St. Augustine, the author 
is credibly informed, were many Spaniards near and above the age of one 
hundred years, (observe;) this nation, especially natives of St. Augustine; 
bore the reputation of great sobriety." * 

On the 3d of January. 17G6, the thermometer sunk to 26° 
with the wind from northwest. '" The ground was frozen an inch 
thick on the banks ; this was the I'atal night that destroyed the 
lime, citron, and banana tree.s in St. Augustine, and many curi- 
ous evergreens up tlie river that were twenty years old in a flour- 
ishing state." t In 1774 there was a snow storm, which extended 
over most of the province. The ancient inhabitants still (1836) 
speak of it as an extraordinary white rain. It was said to have 
done little damage. | 

In this connection, and as it is sometimes supposed that the 
climate is now colder than formerly, it may be stated that the 
thermometer went very low in 1799. East Florida suffered from a 
violent frost on the 6th of April, 1828. In February, 1835, the 
thermometer sunk to 7° above zero, wind from northwest ; and 
the St. Johns river was frozen several rods from the shore ; all 
kinds of fruit trees were killed to the ground, and the wild orange 
trees suffered as well as the cultivated. 

Dr. Nicholas Turnbull, in the year 1767, associated with Sir 
William Duncan and other Englishmen of note, projected a col- 
ony of European emigrants, to be settled at New Smyrna. He 
brought from the islands of Greece, Corsica, and Minorca, some 
fourteen hundred persons, agreeing to convey them free of ex- 
pense, find them in clothing and provisions, and at the end of 
three years, to give fifty acres of land to each head of a family, and 
twenty-five to each child. After a long passage they arrived out, 
and formed the settlement. The principal article of cultivation 
produced by them was indigo, \vhich commanded a high price, 

*De Brahm IMSS., p. 192. fStork, \k 11. tWilliams' Florida, p. 17. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 91 

and was assisted by a bounty from tho English governnieut. 
After a few years, Turnbull, as is alleged, either from avarice or 
natviral cruelty, assumed a control the most absolute over these 
colonists, and practiced cruelties the most painful upon them. 

An insurrection took place in 1769 among them, in consequence 
of severe pimishmeuts, which was speedily repressed, and the 
leaders of it brought to trial before the English court at St. Au- 
gustine ; five of the number were convicted and sentenced to 
death. Governor Grant pardoned two of the five, and a third 
was released upon the condition of his becoming the executioner 
of the other two. Nine years after the commencement of their 
settlement, their nund:)er had become reduced from 1,400 to 600. 
In 1776, proceedings were instituted on their behalf by Mr. Yonge, 
the attorney-general of the province, which resulted in their be- 
ing exonerated from their contract with Turnbull; lands were 
thereupon assigned them in the northern part of the city, 
which was principally built up by them ; and their descendants 
at the present day. form the larger portion of the }iopu]ation of 
that place. 

Governor Grant was the first English governor, and was a 
gentleman of much energy ; and dui-ing his term of office he pro- 
jected many great and permanent improvements in the province. 
Tlie public roads, known as the king's roads, from St. Augus- 
tine to New Smyrna, and from St. Augustine' to Jacksonville, and 
thence to Coleraine, were then con.«tructed, and remain a lasting 
monument of his wisdom and desiie of improvement. 

Governor Tonyn succeeded Governor Grant ; and a legisla- 
tive council was authorized to assemble, and the pretence and 
forms of a constitutional government were gone through with. 

In August, 1775, a British ves.sel, called the Betsey, Captain 
Lotthouse, from London, with 111 barrels of powder, was cap- 
tured ofi^ the bar of St. Augustine, by an American privateer 
from Charleston, vei-v much to the disgust and annoyance of the 
British authorities. 

At this period, St. Augustine assumed much importance as 
a depot andpoint d'appm for the British forces in their opera- 
tions against the Southern States ; and very considerable forces 
were at times assembled. 



92 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

In the excess of the zeal and loyalty of the garrison and in- 
habitants of St. Augustine, upon the receipt of the news of the 
American Declaration of Independence, the effigies of John Han- 
cock and Samuel Adams were burned upon the public sipiare, 
where the monument now stands. 

The expedition of General Prevost against Savannah was or- 
ganized and embarked from St. Augustine, in 1797. 

Sixty of the most distinguished citizens of Carolina were 
seized by the British in 1780, and transported to St. Augustine 
as prisoners of war, and hostages, among whom were Arthur 
Middleton, Edward Rutledge, General Gadsden, and Mr. Cal- 
houn ; all were put upon parole except General Gadsden and Mr. 
Calhoun, who refused the indulgence, and were committed to the 
fort, where they remained many months close prisoners. General 
Rutherford and Colonel Isaacs, of North Carolina, were also trans- 
ported hither and committed to the fort. 

An expedition was fitted out from St. Augustine in 1783, to 
act against New Providence, under Colonel Devereaux ; and with 
very slender means that able officer succeeded in capturing and 
reducing the Bahamas, which has ever since remained under Eng- 
lish dominition. 

The expense of supporting the government of East Florida 
during the English occupation, vas very considerable, amounting 
to the sum of £122,000. The exports of Florida, in 1778, amounted 
to £48,000 ; and in 1772, the province exported 40,000 pounds 
of indigo ; and in 1782, 20,000 barrels of turpentine. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA 93 



CHAPTER XVI. 

RE-CESSION OF FLORIDA TO SPAIN— ERECTION OF THE PAR- 
ISH CHURC^II— ("HANGE OF FLAOS. 178:5—1821. 

In June, 1784, in fulfilhnent of the treaty between England 
and Spain, Florida, after twenty years ot British occupation was 
re-ceded to the Spanish crown, and taken possession of by Gov- 
ernor Zespedez. 

The English residents in general, left the country,* and 
went either to the Bahamas, Jamaica, or the United States. 
Those who went to the British islands were almost ruined ; but 
those who settled in the States were more successful. 

In April, 1793, the present Roman Catholic church was com- 
menced, the previous church having been in another portion of 
the city.f It was constructed under the direction of Don Mari- 
ana de la Rocque and Don P. Berrio, government engineer-officers. 
The cost of the church was $16,650, of which about |6,000 was 
received from the proceeds of the materials and ornaments of the 
old churches, about $1,000 from the contributions of the inhabit- 
ants, and the remaining $10,000 furnished by the government. 
One of its four bells has the following inscription, showing it to be 
probably the oldest bell in the country, being now 185 years old. 



Sancte Joseph. 

Ora Pro Nobis. 

D 1682. 

Don Enri(|ue White, was for many years governor of Flor- 
ida, and died in the city of St. Augustine. He is spoken of by 



* Among tlie families remaining were the I-'atios, Flemings, and a few 
(itliers. 

t The old parish church was on St. (ieorgi' street, on the west side of 
tlie street. 



94 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

those who knew him, in high terms, for his integrity and open- 
ness of character ; and many amusing anecdotes are related con- 
nected with his eccentricities. 

In 1812, the American government, being apprehensive that 
Great Britain designed obtaining possession of Florida, sent its 
troops into the province, overrunning and destroying the whole 
country. The'manner and the pretences under which this was 
done, reflect but little credit on the United States government; 
and the transparent sham of taking possession of the country by 
the patriots, supported by United States troops, was as undigni- 
fied as it was futile. It is for the damages occasioned by this in- 
vasion, that the "Florida claims'" for "losses" of its citizens have 
been presented to the government of the United States. Theprm- 
cipal of the damages sustained, that is to say, the actual value of 
the property then destroyed, has been allowed and paid ; but the 
interest, or damages for the detention, has been withheld upon 
the ground that the government does not pay interest. The 
treaty between the United States and Spain in reference to the 
cession of Florida to the United States, requires the United States 
to make satififaciion for such claims ; and the payment of the bare 
amount of actual loss, after a detention ot thirty years, is con- 
sidered by the claimants an inadequate satisfaction of a just claim. 

In the spring of 1818 General Jackson made his celebrated 
incursion into Florida, and by a series of energetic movements 
followed the Seminoles and Creeks to their fastnesses, and forever 
crushed the power of those formidable tribes for offensive operations. ■ 

In the latter part of 1817, a revolutionary party took posses- 
sion of Amelia Island, and raised a soi disant jxiiriot flag at Fer- 
nandina, supported mainly in the enterprise by adventurers from 
the United States ; M'Gregor was assisted by officers of the United 
States army. An expedition was sent from St. Augustine by the 
Spanish governor to eject the invaders, which failed. One Aury, 
an English adventurer, for a time held con)mand there ; and also 
a Mr. Hubbard, formerly sheriff of New York, who was the civil 
governor, and died there. The United States troops eventually 
interfered ; but negotiations for the cession put a stop to further 
hostilities. 

The king of Spain, finding his possessions in Florida utterly 
woi'thless to his crown, and onlv an expense to sustain the garri- 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 95 

sons, while the repeated attempts to disturb its political relations 
prevented any beneficial progress towards its settlement, gladly 
agreed, in 1819, to a transfer of Florida to the United States for 
five millions of dollars. 

An English gentleman who visited St. Augustine in 1817, 
gives his impressions of the place as follows : 

" Eiucrfiiiig fn mi tlie solitudes and sliades of the pine forests, we espied 
the distant yet distinct lights of tiie watch-towers of the fortress of St. Au- 
gustine, delightful heaeons to my weary pilgrimage. The clock was strik- 
ing ten as I reached the foot of the draw-bridge ; the sentinels were passing 
the akrto, as I demanded entrance; having answered the preliminary ques- 
tions, the draw-bridge was slowly lowered. The officer of the guard, hav- 
ing received my naine and wishes, sent a communication to the governor, 
who issued orders for my immediate admission. On opening* the gate, the 
guard was ready to receive me ; and a file of men, with their officer, es- 
corted me to his Excellency, who expressed his satisfaction at my revisit 
to Florida. I soon retired to the luxury of repose, and the following morn- 
ing was greeted as an old acquaintance by the members of this little com- 
munity. 

"I had arrived at a season of general relaxation, (in the I've of the car- 
nival, which is celebrated with nuicli gaiety in all Catholic cciuntries. 
Masks, dominoes, harlequins, punchinellos and a great variety of grotesque 
disguises, on horseback, in cars, gigs, and on foot, paraded the streets with 
guitars, violins, and other instruments ; and in the evenings, the houses 
were open to receive masks, and balls were given in every direction. I was 
told that in their better days, when their pay was regularly remitted from 
the Havana, these amusements were admirably conducted, and the ricli 
dresses exhibited on these occasions, were not eclipsed by their more fash- 
ionable friends in Cuba ; but poverty had lessened their spirit for enjoy- 
ment, as well as the means for procuring it ; enough, however, remained 
to amuse an idle spectator, and I entered with alacrity into their diver.sions. 

"About thirty of the hunting warriors of the 8eminoles, with their 
squaws, had arrived, for the purpose of selling the produce of the chase, 
consisting of bear, deer, tiger, and other skins, bears' grease, and other tri- 
fling articles. This savage race, once the lords of the ascendant, are the 
most formidable border enemies of the T'nited States. This party had 
arrived, after a range of six months, for the purpose of sale and barter. 
.\fter trafficking for their commodities, they were seen at various parts of 
the town, assembled in small groups, seated upon their haunches, like 
monkeys, passing round their bottles of aqne dcnte (the rum of Cuba), their 
repeated draughts upon which soon exhausted their contents; they then 
slept off the effects of intoxication, under the walls, exposed to tlic inllu- 
ence of the sun. Their appearance was extremely wretclied ; their skins of 
a dark, dirty, chocolate color, with long, straight, black hair, over which 
they had spread a quantity of bear.-*' grease. In their ears, ami the carti- 
lages of the nose, were inserted rings of silver and l>ra.ss, witli pendants of 



96 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQX'ITIES 

various shapes ; their features prominent and harsh, and their eyes had a 
wild and ferocious expression. 

"A torn blanket, or an ill-fashioned dirty linen jacket, is the general 
costume of these Indians ; a triangular i)iece of cloth passes around the 
loins ; the women vary in their aijparel by merely wearing short petticoats, 
the original color of which were not distinguishable from the various in- 
crustations of dirt. Some of the young squaws were tolerably agreeable, 
and if well washed and dressed would not have been uninteresting ; but 
the elder squaws wore an air of misery and debasement. 

" The garrison is composed of a detachment from the Royal regiment of 
Cuba, with some hlack troops ; who together form a respectable force. The 
fort and bastions are built of the same material as the houses of the town, 
coquina. This marine substance is superior to stone, -but being liable to 
splinter from the eflfects of bombardment ; it receives and imbeds the shot, 
which adds rather than detracts from its strength and security. 

"The houses and the rear of the town are intersected and covered with 
orange groves ; their golden fruit and deep green foliage, not only render 
the air agreeable, but beautify the appearance of this interesting little town, 
in tlie centre of which (the square) rises a large structure dedicated to the 
Catholic religion. At the ujiper end are the remains of a very considerable 
house, the former residence of the governor of this settlement ; but now 
(1817), in a state of dilapidation and decay, from age and inattention. 

"At the southern extremity of the town stands a large building, for- 
merly a monastery of Carthusian Friars, but now occupied as a barrack for 
the troops of the garrison. At a little distance are four stacks of chimnies, 
the sole remains of a beautiful range of barracks, built during the occu- 
pancy of the British, from 1763 to 1783; for three years the 29th regiment 
was stationed there, and in that time they did not lose a single man. The 
proverljial salubrity of the climate has obtained for St. Augustine the des- 
ignation of the Montpelier of North America; indeed, such is the general 
character of the Province of East P"'lori(la. 

"The governor (Copinger), is about forty-five years of age, of active and 
vigorous mind, anxious to promote by every means in his power the pros- 
perity of the province confided to his command; his urbanity and other 
amiable qualities render him accessible to the meanest individual, and jus- 
tice is sure to follow an appeal to his decision. His military talents are well 
known, and appreciated by his s()vereign ; and he now holds, in addition 
to the government of East Florida, the rank of colonel in tlie Royal Regi- 
ment of Cuba. 

"The clergy consist of the ^^flf/rc (priest of tlie i)arish), Father Cro.sby, 
a native of Wexford, in Ireland ; a Franciscan friar, the chaplain to tiie gar- 
rison, and an inferior or cure. The social t[ualities of the 7Jrt(?»T, and the 
general tolerance of his feelings render him an acceptable visitor to all his 
flock. The judge, treasurer, collector, and notary, are the principal ofticers 
of the establishment, besides a number of those devoted solely to the mili- 
tary occupations of the garrison. The whole of this society is extremely 
courteous to strangers ; they form one family, and those little jealousies 
and animosities, so disgraceful to our small English communities, do not 
sullv tiieir meetings of friendly chit-chat, called as in Spain, tartalku^. The 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 97 

women are deservedly celcliniti'il fur tlu'ir rharms: their lovely Ijlaclc eyes 
luive a vast deal of expression ; their eoinplexionsarea elear hrunette ; much 
attention is paid to the arrangement of their liair ; at mass they are always 
well dressed in black silk hnsqiiinan (petticoats), w^ith the little mantilla 
(black lace veil) over their head; tht' men in their military costumes; 
Sood order ami temperance are their (characteristic virtues; but the vice 
of gambling too often profanes their social haunts, from which even the 
fair sex are not excluded. Two days following our arrival, a ball was given 
by some of the inliabitants, to wliich I was invited. The elder couples 
opened it with minuets, succeeded by the younger couples disjihiying their 
handsome liglit figures in Spani.sh dances."* 

The old inhabitants still speak in terms of fond regix't of tin- 
place when embowered in its orange groves, and the pleasantness 
of its old customs and usages. Dancing formed one of their most 
common amusements, as it does now. The posey dance, now 
become obsolete, was then of almost daily occurrence, and was 
introduced in the following manner : The females of the family 
erect in a room of their hou.se a neat little arboi'. dressed with 
pots and garlands of ifowers, and lit up brightly with candles. 
This is understood by the gentleman as an invitati(.)n to drop in 
and admire the beauty of their decorations. In the meantime. 
the lady who has prepared it, selects a partner from among her 
visitors, and in token of her preference, honors him with a bou- 
quet of flowers. The gentleman who receives the boucjuet be- 
comes then, for the nonce, king of the ball, and leads out the fail- 
donor as queen of the dance:' the others take partners, and the 
ball is thus inaugurated, and may continue several successive 
evenings. Should the lady's choice fall upon an unwilling swain, 
whicli seldom happened, he could be excused bv a.ssuming the ex- 
penses of the entertainment. These assemblies were always in- 
formal, and frequented by all classes, all meeting on a level ; but 
were conducted with the utmost politene.ss and decorum, for 
which the Spanish character is so distinguished. 

The carnival amusements are still kept up to some extent. 
l)ut with little of the taste and wit which formerly characterized 
them, and without which they degenerate into mere buffoonery. 

The graceful Spanish dance, no well suited in its slow and 
regular movements to the inhabitants of a warm climate, has al- 
ways retained the preference with the natives of the place, who 

*■ Vovage to S]ianisli ^^ain. T>nndon, 1S1!). Vnixv \M>. r/ uro. 
10 ' 



98 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

dance it with that native grace and elegance of movement which 
seems easy and natural for every one. but is seldom ecj^ualed by 
the Anglo-Saxon. 



OF ST. AUaUSTINE, FLORIDA. 99 



CHAPTER XVII. 

TRANSFER OF FLCJRIDA TO THK UNITED STATES— AMERICAN 
OCCUPATION— ANCTENT BUILDINGS, ETC. 

On the lOtli dav of Jnly. in the year 1821, the standard of 
ypain, which hud been raised two hundred and fifty-i^ix years 
before over St. Augustine, was finally lowered forever from the 
walls over which it had so long fluttered, and the stars and stripes 
of the youngest of nations rose where, sooner or later, the hand 
of destinv would assuredly have placed them. 

It was intended that the change of flags should have taken 
plact^ on the 4th of July ; owing to a detention, this was frus- 
tratcil; l^it the inhabitants celebrated the 4th with a handsome 
public ball at the governor's house. 

The Spanish garrison, and officers connected with it, returned 
to Cuba, and some of the Spanish families ; but the larger por^ 
tion of the inhabitants remained. A considerable influx of in- 
habitants from the adjoining States took place, and the town 
sj^eedily assumed a somewhat American character. The propor- 
tion of American population since the change of flags, has been 
about one-third. Most of the native inhabitants converse with 
equal fluency in either language. 

In the year 1823. the legislative coumil of Florida lu'ld its 
second session in the government house at St. Augustine. Gov- 
ernor W. P. Duval was the first governor after the organization 
of the territory. The Ralph Ringwoocl Sketches of Irving have 
given a wide celebrity to tlie character of our worth\- and origi- 
nal first governor, now recently deceased. 

During the month of February, 1835, East Florida was vis- 
ited by a frost much moi-e severe than any before experi^iced. 
A severe northwest wind blew ten days in succession, but more 
violently for about three days. During this period, the mercury 
sunk to seven degrees above zero. The St. Johns river was 
frozen several rods from the shore. All kinds of fruit trees were 



tUO THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

killed to the ground ; many of them never started again, even 
from the roots. The wild groves suffered equally with those cul- 
tivated. The orange had become the staple of Florida commerce : 
several millions were exported from the St. Johns and St. Augus- 
tine during the two previous yefirs. Numerous groves had just 
been planted out, and extensive nurseries could hardly supply the 
demand for young trees. Some of the groves had, during the 
previous autumn, hrought to their owners, one, two, and three 
thousand dollars; and the increasing demand for this fruit, 
opened in prospect mines of wealth to the ii:ihabitants. 
"Tlicn caiiio a Iro.'^t, a withering fro.'^t." 

Some of the orange groves in East Florida were estimated at fronj 
five to ten thousand dollars, and even more. They were at once 
rendered valueless. The larger part of the population at St. Au- 
gustine had been accustomed to depend on the produce of their 
little groves of eight or ten trees, to purchase their coffee, sugar, 
and other necessaries from the stores ; they were left without 
resource. 

"The town of St. Augustine, that heretofore appeared like a 
rustic village, their white houses peeping from among the clus- 
tered boughs and golden fruit of their favorite tree, beneath 
whose shade the foreign invalid cooled his fevered limbs, and 
imbibed health from the fragrant air, — how was she fallen ! Dry, 
unsightly poles, with ragged bark, stick up around her dwell- 
ings ; and where the mocking-bird once delighted to budd her 
nest, and tune her lovely songs, owls hoot at night, and sterile 
winds whistle through the leafless branches. Never was a place 
rendered more desolate." * 

The groves were at once replanted, and soon bid fair to yield 
most abundantly ; when, in 1842, an inject was introduced into 
the country, called ortmr/e cocY'^/N, which spread over the whole 
country with wonderful rapidity, and almost totally destroyed 
every tree it fastened upon. Of late, the ravages of this insect 
seem less destructive, and the groves have begun to resume theii- 
bearing ; these add to the beauty of the residences of St. Augus- 
tine, with their glossy deep-green leaves, and golden fruit ; and 
hopes of an entire restoration are now confidently entertained. 



Williams' Flnrida, i)i>. 18, et mq. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINP:. FLORIDA lOJ 

In December, 1835, the war with the Semiiiiile iTnliaiis hnikc 
out; and for some years St. Augustine was full of the pom}i and 
circumstance of war. It was dangerous to venture beyond the 
gates ; and many sad scenes of Indian massacre took place in the 
neighborhood of the city. During this period, great apparent 
prosperity prevailed : propei'ty was valuable, rents wei'e high : 
speculators projected one city on the north of the town, and an- 
other on the west* a canal to the St. Johns, and also a railroad 
to Picolata; and great hopes of future prospeiity were enter- 
tained. With the cessation of the war, the importance of St. Au- 
gustine diminished : younger communities took the lead of it^ 
aided by superior advantages of location, and greater enterpiise. 
ami St. Augustine has subsided into the pleasant, cjuiet, dolce far 
niente of to-day, living upon its old memories, contented, peace- 
ful, and agreeable, and likely to remain without much change foi- 
the future. 

Of the public buildings, it may be remarked that the extensive 
British barracks were destroyed by fiie in 1792; and that the 
Franciscan Convent was occupied as it had been before, as bafracks 
for the troops not in garrison in the fort. The appearance of 
these buildings has been much changed by the extensive repairs 
and alterations made by the United States government. It had 
formerly a large cii-cular look-out upon the top, from which a 
beautilul view of the surrounding country was obtained. Its 
walls are probably the oldest foundations in the city. 

The present United States Court-house, now occu])ied bv 
many public offices, was the residence of the Spanish governors. 
It has been rebuilt by the United States; and its former quaint 
and interesting appearance has l)eeii lost, in removing its look-out 
tower, and balconies, and the handsome gateway, mentioned bv 
De Brahm, which is said to have been a fine specimen of Doric 
architecture. * 

Trinity Episcopal Church was commenced in 1S27, and con- 
secrated in l(S;>i, by Disho]) Bowen, of South r'arolina. The 
Pi'esbyterian Church was l)uilt al)out I80O. and the Methodist 
chapel about 1846. 



■■ It is said to Iiavc Ix'cii taken down liy tliccdiitraclorhi Inn 11 tlicfouii- 
(liition of liis kitclu'ii. 



102 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

The venerable-looking building on the bay, at the corner of 
(_Treen hme and Bay street, is considered the oldest building in 
the place, and has evidently been a fine building in its day. It 
was the residence of the attorney-general, in English times. 

The monument on the publi? square was erected in 1812-3, 
upon the information of the adoption of the Spanish constitution, 
as a memorial of that event, in pursuance of a royal order to that 
eftect. directed to the publi<' ;iutli(.irities of 111 the provincial 
towns. Geronimo Alvarez was the Alcalde under whose direc- 
tion it was erected. The plan of it was made by Sr. Hernandez, 
the father of the late general Hernandez. A short time after it 
was put up, the Spanish constitution having had a downfall, orders 
were issued by the government that all the monuments erected 
to the constitution throughout its dominions, should be demol- 
ished. The citizens of St. Augustine were unwilling to see their 
monuuKMit torn down : and with the passive accjuiescence of the 
governor, the marble tablets inscribed Plaza de la Constitu- 
ciON being removed, the monument itself was allowed to stand ; 
and thus it remains to this day, the only monument in existence 
to commemorate the farce of the constitution of 1812. In 1818. 
the tablets were restored without objectidu. 

The bridge and causeway are the work of the government of 
the United States. The present sea-wall wa.s built between 1835 
and 1842, by the United States, at an expense of one hundred 
thousand dollars. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 103 



H A P T E n X V I I 1 . 

I'RESENT AI'PEARAXC;K OF 8T. AUGl'STINE, AS GIVEN BY THE 
AUTHOR OF TIIAXAT0P8IS— ITS CLIMATE AND SALUBRITY. 

St. Augustine lias now attained, tor this side of the Athiu- 
tic, a period of most respectable antiquity. In a. country like 
America, where States are ushered into existence in the full de- 
velopment of maturity, where large cities rise like magic from 
the rude forest, where the "oldest iidiabitant "" recollects the cut- 
ting down of the lofty elms which shadowed the wigwam of the 
red man, perchanci.' on some spot now m the heart of a great 
city ; an anticpiity of three centuries would be esteemed as almost 
reaching back (compared with mod<.'rn growth) to the days of 
the Pharaohs. 

The larger nundjer of (\ni-ly settlements wove unsuitably lo- 
cated, and were forced to be abandoned on account of their un- 
healthiness; Ijut the Sj)auish settlement at St. Augustine has re- 
mained for near three hundred vears where it was originally 
planted; and the health of its iidialjitants has. for this long pe- 
riod, given it a deserved reputation for salubrity and coemption 
from disease, attributable to locality or extraneous influences or 
causes. 

The great age attained by its inhabitants was remarked by 
De Brahm ; the number and healthfulness of the children that 
throng its streets, attract now, as they did then, the attention of 
strangers. This salubrity Is easily ai'counted for. by tlic almost 
insular position of the city, upon a narrow neck of land nearly 
surrounded by salt water : the main shore, a high an<l healthy 
pine forest and sandv plains, so ne;ir the oce.-in as to Ije fanned 
bv its constant breezes, and within the soiuid of its echoing 
waves; a situation c(.an!)ining moi'c h)cal advantages for salu- 
brity could hardly be imagined. While it will never ])r()bably 
increase to anv great extent in pupulation. it will hardly be likely 
to decrease. Its health, easy means of support, unambitious class 
of inhabitants, with their strong attachments and family and 



104 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

local ties, will contribute to maintain St. Augustine as the time- 
honored ancient city, with its permanent population, ami its vi.s- 
itor.s for health, for centuries perhaps yet to come. 

I cannot, perhaps, better conclude these historic notices than 
by giving the impressions of the author of Thanatopsis,* one 
whose poetic fame will endui'e as long as American literature ex- 
ists. Writing from St. Augustine in April. 1843. he says: 

'■/Vt length we emerged upon a shnililiy plain, and finally eanie in 
sight of this oldest city of the United States, seated among its trees on a 
sandy swell of land, where it has stood for three hundred years. I was 
struck with its ancient and homely aspect, even at a distance, and could 
not help likening it to pictures which I had seen of Dutch towns, though 
it wanted a wind-mill or two to make the resemblance perfect. We drove 
into a green square, in the midst of which was a monument erected to 
commemorate the Spanish constitution of 1812, and thence through the 
narrow streets of the city to our hotel. 

" I have called the streets narrow. In few place:^ are they wide enough 
to allow two carriages to pass abreast. I was told that they were not orig- 
inally intended for carriages; and that in the time when the town belonged 
to Spain, many oT them were floored with an artificial stone, composed of 
shells and mortar, which in this climate takes and keejjs the hardness of 
roek ; and that no other vehicle than a haudbarrow was allowed to pass 
over them. In some places you see remnants of this ancient pavement ; 
but for the most part it has been ground into dust under the wheels of the 
carts and carriages introduced by the new inhabitants. The old houses, 
built of a kind of stone wbich is seemingly a pure concretion of small 
shells, overhang the streets with their wooden balconies; and the gardens 
between the houses are fenced on the side of the street with high walls of 
stone. Peeping over these walls you see branches of the pomegranate, and 
of the orange tree now fragrant with flowers, and rising yet higher, the 
leaning boughs of the fig with its broad luxuriant leaves. Occasionally 
you pass the ruins of houses — walls of stone with arches and stair-cases of 
the same material, which once belonged to stately dwellings. You meet 
in the streets with men of swarthy eoraplexions and foreign physiognomy, 
and you hear them speaking to each otlier in a strange language. You are 
told that these are the remains of those who inhabited the countrv under 
the Spanish dominion, and that the dialect you have beard is that of the 
island of Minorca. 

" 'Twelve years ago,' said an acquaintance of mine, ' when I first vis- 
ited St. Augustine, it was a fine old Spanish town. A large proportion of 
the houses which you now see roofed like barns, were then flat-roofed ; 
they were all of shell rock, and these modern wooden buildings were then 
not erected. That old fort which they are now repairing, to fit it for receiv- 
ing a garrison, was a sort of ruin, for the outworks had partly fallen, and 

■■■■ Brvant. 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 105 

it stood unoccupied by the military, a venerable monument of the Spanisli 
dominion. But the orange groves were the wealth and ornament of St. 
Augustine, and their produce maintained the inhabitants in comfort. 
Orange trees of the size and height of the pear tree, often rising higher 
than the roofs of the houses, embowered the town in perpetual verdure. 
They stood so close in the groves that they excluded the sun ; and the at- 
mosphere was at all times aromatic with their leaves and fruit, and in 
spring the fragrance of the flowers was almost oppressive.' 

" The old fort of St. Mark, now called Fort Marion — a foolish change 
of name — is a noble work, frowning over the Matanzas, which flows be- 
tween St. Augustine and the island of Anastasia; and it is worth making 
a long journey to see. No record remains of its original construction ; but 
it is supposed to have been erected about a hundred and fifty years since,* 
and the shell rock of which it is built is dark with time. We saw where 
it had been struck with cannon balls, which, instead of splitting the rock, 
became imbedded and clogged among the loosened fragments of shell. 
This rock is, therefore, one of the best materials for fortification in the 
world. We were taken into the ancient prisons of the fort dungeons, one 
of which was dimly lighted by a grated window, and another entirely with- 
out light; and by tlie flame of a torch we were shown the half obliterated 
inscriptions scrawled on the walls long ago by prisoners. But in another 
corner of the fort, we were taken to look at the secret cells, which were 
discovered a few years since in consequence of the sinking of the earth 
over a narrow apartment between them. These cells are deep under 
ground, vaulted overhead, and without windows. In one of them a wood- 
en machine was found, which some supposed might have been a rack, and 
in the other a quantity of human bones. The doors of these cells had been 
walled up and concealed with stucco, before the fort passed into the hands 
of the Americans. 

" You cannot be in St. Augustine a day without hearing some of its 
inhabitants speak of its agreeable climate. During the sixteen days of my 
residence here, the weather has certainly been as delightful as I could 
imagine. We have the temperature of early June as June is known in 
New York. The mornings are sometimes a little sultry ; but after two or 
three hours a fresh breeze comes in from the sea sweeping through the 
broad piazzas, and breathing in at the windows. At this season it comes 
laden with the fragrance of the flowers of the Pride of India, and some- 
times of the orange tree, and sometimes brings the scent of roses, now in 
bloom. The nights are gratefully cool ; and I have been told by a person 
who has lived here many years, that there are very few nights in summer 
when you can sleep without a blanket, 

"An acquaintance of mine, an invalid, who has tried various climates, 
and has kept up a kind of running fight with death for many years, re- 
treating from country to country as he pursued, declares to me that the 
winter climate of St. Augustine is to be preferred to that of any part of 
Europe, even that of Sicily, and that it is better than the climate of the 



* It is much more ancient. 
11 



106 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

West Indies. He finds it genial and equable, at the same time that it is no 
enfeebling. The summer heats are prevented from being intense by tin 
sea breeze, of which I have spoken. 1 have looked over the work of Dr 
Forry on the climate of the United States, and have been surprised to set 
the uniformity of climate which he ascribes to Key West. As appears by 
the observations he has collected, the seasons at that place glide into eac'i 
other by the softest gradations ; and the heat never, even in midsummer, 
reaches that extreme which is felt in the higher latitudes of the American 
continent. The climate of Florida is, in fact, an insular climate : the At- 
lantic on the east, and the Gulf of Mexico on the west, temper the airs that 
blow over it, making them cooler in summer and warmer in winter. I do 
not wonder, therefore, that it is so much the resort of invalids; it would be 
more so if the softness of its atmosphere, and the beauty and serenity of 
its seasons were generally known. Nor should it be supposed that accom- 
modations for persons in delicate health are wanting ; they are, in fact, be- 
coming better with every year, as the demand for them increases. Among 
the acquaintances whom I have made here, I remember many who having 
come hither for the benefit of their health, are detained for life by the 
amenity of the climate. ' It seems to me,' said an intelligent gentleman of 
this class, the other day, ' as if I could not exist out of Florida. When I 
go to the North, I feel most sensibly the severe extremes of the weather ; 
the climate of Charleston itself appears harsh to me.' 

"The negroes of St. Augustine are a good-looking specimen of the 
race, and have the appearance of being very well treated. You rarely see 
a negro in ragged clothing ; and the colored children, though slaves, are 
often dressed with great neatness. In the colored people whom I saw in 
the Catholic church, I remarked a more agreeable, open, and gentle physi- 
ognomy than I have been accustomed to see in that class. 

"Some old customs which the Minorcans brought with them from 
their native country, are still kept up. On the evening before Easter Sun- 
day, about eleven o'clock, I heard the sound of a serenade in the streets. 
Going out, I found a party of J^oung men, with instruments of music, 
grouped about the window of one of the dwellings, singing a hymn in 
honor of the Virgin,* in the Mahonese dialect. They began, as I am told, 
with tapping on the shutter. An answering knock within had told them 
that tlieir visit was welcome, and they inuiiediately began the serenade. I 
no reply had been heard they would have passed on to another dwelling 
I give the hymn as it^was kindly taken down for me in writing, by anativ( 
of St. Augustine. I presume this is the first time that it lias been put ii 
print ; but I fear the copy has several corruptions, occasioned by the un 
skilfulness of the copyist. The letter e, which I have put in italics, repre 
sents the guttural French e, or, perhaps, more nearly the sound of the u ii 
the word but. The sh of our language is represented by sc followed by ai 
i or an e; tlie g, both hard and soft, has the same sound as in our Ian 
guage. 



This song is usually called the Fromajardis. 



OF ST. AUCtUSTINE, FLORIDA 107 

" ■ Disciareni lu dol 
Cantarem aub' alagria 

Y n'arein a da 

Las pascuas a Maria 
O Maria ! 

" 'Sant Gabriel, 

Qui portaba la arabasciado 

Des iiostro rey del eel, 

Estaran vos prenada 

Ya omitiada 

Tu o vais aqui serventa 

Fia del Dieu contenta 

Para fe lo que el vol 

Disciareni lu dol, &c. 

" ' Y a milla nit 
Pariguero vos regina 
A un Dieu infinit, 
Dintra una establina. 

Y a milla dia, 

Que los angles von cantant 

Pau y abondant 

De la gloria de Dieu sol 

Disciarem lu dol &c. 

" Ya Libalani, 

Alia la terra santa 

Nus nat Jesus ' 

Aub' alagria tanta 

Infant petit 

Que tot lu mon salvaria 

Y ningu y bastaria 
Nu mes un Dieu tot sul 

Disciarem lu dol, &c. 

" ' Cuant de Orion lus 
Tres reys la stralla veran 
Dieu omnipotent 
Adora lo vingaran 
Un present inferan • 
De mil encens y or 
A lu beneit seiio 
Que conesce cual se vol 

Disciarem lu dol. &c. 

" ' Tot fu gayant 

Para cumpl^ la prumas 

Y lu Esperit sant 

De un angel fau gramas 



108 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

Gran foe eiices, 
Que crania hi curagia 
Dieu nos da lenguagia 
Para fe lo que Dieu vol 

Disciareni lu clol, &c. 

" ' Ciiaiit trespasd 

De quest iiion nostra Senora, 

Al eel s' empugia 

Sun fil la niatescia ora 

! Emperadora 

Que del eel sail eligida 

Lu rosa florida 

M^ resplenden que un sol 

Disciarem lu dol, &e. 

" ' Y el tercer giorn 
Que Jesus resunta 
Dieu y Aboronia 
Que la iiiort triumfa 
De alii se balla 
Para perldra Lucife 
An tot a sen penda 
Que de nostro ser el sol 

Disciarein lu dol, etc' 

"After this hymn, the following stanzas, S(.)liciting the customary gifl 
of cakes or eggs, are sung : 

'" ' Ce set que vam cantant, 
Regina celestial! 
Damos pan y alagria 

Y boiias festas tingan 

Y vos da sus bonas festas 
Daiios dines de sus nous 
Sempre tareiii lus neans Uestas 
Para recibi un grapat de lies, 

Y el giorii de pascua tlorida 
Alagramos y giuntainent 

As qui es mort par dar nos vida 

Y via glorosiamente, 

A questa casa esta empedrada 

Bien halla que la enipedro ; 

San aiiio de aquesta casa 

Baldria duna un do 

Forniagiado o enipanada ^ 

Cucutta a fiao ; 

Cual se val casa rue grada, 

Sol que no rue digas que no.' 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 109 

"The shutters are then opened l)y the people within, and a supply of 
cheese, cakes, or other pastry, or eggs, is dropped into a bag carried by one 
of the party ; who acknowledge the gift in the following lines, and then 
depart : 

" 'Aquesta casa reta empedrada 

Empedrada de cuatro vens ; 

Sun amo de aquesta casa 

Es omo de compliment.' 

" If nothing is given, the last line reads thus : 

" ' No es homo de compliment.' " 



110 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER XIX. 

ST. AUGUSTINE IN ITS OLD AGE— 1565— 1868. 

Three hundred and three years have now passed over the 
walls of this venerable city. Ten generations of men and women 
have passed away since this ancient city had an existence and a 
name. One can look back to 1565 and picture to the mind the 
galleons of Spain anchored off its harbor ; see the gallant Adel- 
antado Menendez, clad in mail, preceded by the standards of 
Spain, and followed by his men at arms, his bowmen and his 
cavaliers, taking possession of the country in the name of his 
sovereign. The waves roll in upon the same shores now as they 
did then; the green, grassy marshes and oyster-clad banks pre- 
sent to our eyes the same appearance as they did to theirs ; the 
white sandy beach which received the impress of the iron-clad 
heel of the cavalier, now yields to the pressure of your foot; the 
rustling pines along the shore cast their pleasant shadows over 
you as they did over them, and perchance the same eager thoughts 
of gain pervade your breast, as you pass beneath them, as tilled 
the hearts and souls of those who long ago came seeking gold 
and wealth unmeasured upon those shores. 

Three hundred years ago, and St. Augustine stood the soli- 
tary settlement of the white race north of the Gulf of Mexico 
in all that great expanse which now boasts of its thirty-four 
States, its three hundred cities, and its thirty millions of people. 
Then the Province of Florida extended northward to the pole, 
and westward to the Pacific. At a later period, after the voy- 
ages of the French and English, its boundaries were limited to 
the shores of the Chesapeake and the Mississippi river, and were 
subsequently gradually contracted to their present limits, so that 
Florida once represented upon the maps all of the United States. 

The life of St. Augustine runs parallel with that of Spain. 
For a long period Spain was at the head of European monarch- 
ies ; its rulers held sway over more vast possessions than had 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. Ill 

ever belonged to any single crown since the day.s of the Caesars; 
wealth flowed into its coffers from the New World in boundless 
profusion, and corruption, venality and efteminaey followed in 
its train. The whole continent of America was claimed as its 
dominion. Its fleets anchored upon every shore for conquest or 
exploration, and its banners were unfurled by its generals, and 
the cross was planted by its priests upon every headland. From 
all this grandeur and eminence the Spanish monarchy has been 
cast down. Driven from land to land, it has receded from the 
mainland of America, and has exchanged its dominion over a 
continent to the islands of the sea, which it holds with a preca- 
rious grasp, and it now remains in a dry old age a fourth-rate 
power where once it stood foremost. 

The first planted of all the cities of the United States, St. 
Augustine, now" ranks among the least. 

Ten years have been added to the longevity of the Ancient 
City since the first publication of this work. Ten years do not 
make their mark upon the aged man as they do upon the youth 
launching forth into manhood, or as they do upon him who in 
the full measure of his matured strength is battling with life. 
On the nation at large, these ten years have left almost inefface- 
able scars and bruises; ten years, the most important, the weight- 
iest and the gravest of any since the throes of the great revolu- 
tion which gave birth to the nation. This long sad period has 
left no mark upon its walls, grey and mouldy with the weight of 
years, and has scarcely added a tinge the more of age and sor- 
row ; and yet the inner life of the old city has sustained a great 
«hock. The system of servitude, which has now been swept 
away, was the sole dependence of many aged persons, of many 
poor widows and orphan children. 

Servants in St. Augustine were treated with paternal kind- 
ness; they had grown up in the family of the indulgent master, 
had been his playmate in infancy, and rendered willing service. 
They had their holidays and their balls, and were ever found in 
the background at all festive gatherings, enjoying, upon a priv- 
ileged footing, the pleasures of the hour, looking on and com- 
menting with pride upon the graceful movements in the dance 
of their young mistresses, and anon whirling each other around 
to the music, in the corridors, with the unresti'ained exuberance 



112 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

of their simple and unalloyed happiness. All this has passed 
away ; their homes are broken up ; the poor widow and the or- 
phan children have been brought to want; the sound of music 
and dancing no longer resounds in the old streets; the privileged 
house-maid and man-servant no longer do their easy tasks with 
cheerful song and merry laugh. 

The naval forces of the United States took possession of St. 
Augustine in 1862. Batteries had been mounted at the fort, and 
a small garrison of Confederate troops were in military occupa- 
tion of the place, but too few in numbers to offer any resistance, 
and the city was surrendered by the civil authorities upon the 
demand of Captain Dupont. The Fourth New Hampshire regi- 
ment first garrisoned the city. The old fort was brushed up and 
repaired, the earth-works strengthened, and barracks built on 
the platform. Occasionally reconnoitering parties of Confeder- 
ates approached the town, and on one occasion a festive party of 
officers, who had gone out to Mr. Solana's, near Picolata, to attend 
a dance, were captured, with their music and ambulance, by Cap- 
tain Dickinson, celebrated for many daring exploits. It was even 
believed that this daring partisan had ridden through the city 
at night in the guise of a Federal cavalry officer. On another 
occasion, the commanding officer of the garrison at St. Augustine 
was captured on the road from Jacksonville by a Confederate 
picket. 

The inhabitants, isolated from all means of obtaining sup- 
plies from without the lines, were reduced to great straits. The 
only condition upon which they were allowed to purchase was 
the acceptance of an oath of loyalty. Sympathizing strongly 
with the South, they were placed in an unfortunate position, and 
many doubtless suffered greatly. At one period, those of the 
citizens who had relatives in the Confederate service were ordered 
to leave the city. Then ensued a scene which beggars descrip- 
tion. Men, women and children were huddled on board a ves- 
sel, and, homeless and helpless, were carried along the coast and 
disembarked, shelterless, on the banks of the Nassau river, to 
make their way to food and shelter as best they could — hard- 
ships which hardly seemed called for by any military necessity. 
Many of the young men of the city went into the Confederate 
service and served through the war with distinction, but many 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 113 

fell victims on the battlefield, in the hospitals, or from exposure 
to the rigorous climate of Virginia and Tennes.see, to which they 
were unaccustomed. 

To these misfortunes succeeded to all, sales and forcible de- 
privation of 2^i"operty, under the most rigorous construction of 
most rigorous laws, the unsettling of titles and the loss of means, 
have combined to lessen the ability of the people to do more than 
try to live, without much eii'ort to improve their homes and the 
appearance of the city. 

Some changes have taken place in the suburbs of the city. 
Macariz, the site of the old Indian town, belonging to the late 
Judge Douglas, with its beautiful groves of forest trees, has been 
utterly destroyed ; and a once pleasant cottage home, near the 
stockades, dear to the writer, caied for and embellished with 
many things pie? sant to the eye, fragrant with the ever-blooming 
roses and honeysuckles, has, under the rude hand of war, been 
utterly destroyed, with its library, its furniture, and all its pleas- 
ant surroundings. 

But while man'? work has been to destroy. Nature has done 
much within these few years to restore one of its former sources 
of prosperity: the cultivation of the orange, which, having been 
at one period almost utterly destroyed by the cold, and then by 
the coccus insect, is now fast regaining its pristine vigor and pro- 
ductiveness, and promises in a few years to furnish to the city 
more permanent and abundant sources of prosperity than it has 
ever had. 

12 



114 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 



CHAPTER XX. 

A. D. 18(JS TO 1881. 

Soon after the reconstruction period which, followed the close 
of the civil war, a portion of that large influx of Northern visit- 
ors which sought Florida for the beneficial influences of its cli- 
mate began again to visit the Ancient City in considerable num- 
bers. The Tocoi Railroad, which had been commenced before 
the war, to connect the city with the St. Johns river, a distance 
of only fifteen miles, was completed by the energy of Dr. John 
Westcott. Although at first provided with strap-iron rail and 
run by mule power, it was, in comparison with the previous stage 
communication, both comfortable and convenient. Travel soon 
increased to such an extent that it became necessary to replace 
the strap-iron with the usual solid rail, and to exchange the mule 
power for the locomotive — the time of transit being shortened to 
forty minutes in lieu of the old four-hour schedule of the Pico- 
lata stages. The Picolata road, which had been in use for three 
centuries by the Indians, Spaniards, English and x\mericans, as 
the principal route of communication with the St. Johns and the 
interior, became a thing of the past. 

With the influx of visitors, increased hotel accommodations 
became necessary, and the St. Augustine Hotel, a very large and 
imposing structure, was erected on the plaza, and subsequently 
the Florida House and The Magnolia were greatly enlarged, 
while numerous smaller hotels and boarding-houses were opened, 
and St. Augustine became one of the principal, as it has always 
been one of the pleasantest, winter resorts in the South. A num- 
ber of wealthy gentlemen from the North purchased property 
and erected handsome residences, and the general aspect of the 
city was greatly improved by the increasing evidences of liberal 
expenditure The population increased and employment, espe- 
cially in the winter, was abundantly provided for its inhabitants. 
In fishing, boating, sailing, driving, gardening, etc., its male pop- 
ulation found constant demand for their services. The women 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA. 115 

had been long known for their skillful woi'kmanshi}) in lace, 
fancy work, palmetto braiding, etc., and the sale of the cui-iosi- 
ties which strangers seek as souvenirs of travel became quite a 
remunerative business. In fact, small industries are the princi- 
pal support of the city. Property which was very much depressed 
in value at the close of the war soon appreciated, and confidence 
in the future of the city was shown by investments in real estate 
and extensive improvements. Among those who have built fine 
residences may be mentioned Messrs. Edgar, Ball, Ammidown. 
Howard, Tyler, Kingsland, House, etc. 

It is, however, t© be regretted that the new hotels and expen- 
sive improvements which have been built have not been fashioned 
more after the Moorish and Spanish styles of architecture, with 
balconies, projecting casements, thick walls, narrow windows, 
and inner courts and galleries with the characteristic Moorish or 
graceful Eoman arches, fountains and terraces, which would have 
given an appropriate and picturesque character, befitting the 
venerable antiquity of the city, and much better suited to the 
locality and climate; so that when time had placed its mel- 
lowing tints upon their work, the old and the new would have 
blended and harmonized. Thus fittingly built up, St. Augustine 
would in all time call up the associations of its long past, extend- 
ing back almost to the days when for the first time its pleasant 
shores met the enraptured gaze of the tempest-tossed adventurers 
who crossed the unknown seas of seeming far-famed Cathay in 
quest of fame and fortune. 

In 1875, old Fort Marion was made the place of confinement 
for a considerable number of Comanche, Kioway and Arapahoe 
Indians, comprising a number of leading chiefs and head men. 
who had been made prisoners by the United States forces oper- 
ating on our Western frontier. Captain Pratt, of the United 
States Army, aided by several humane ladies of the city, under- 
took the difficult task of civilizing and educating these wild sons 
of the forest, jimong the fiercest and most hostile of theii- race. 
By long perseverance and the softening power of unwearied kind- 
ness, their efforts were rewarded with success. The fierce chieis, 
W'hose war-like nature had made them the relentless foes ol' the 
white race, whose hands had been stained in their blood, after a 
few months, assumed the dress and ac(|uired the arts of civiliza- 



116 THE HISTORY AND ANTIQUITIES 

tioii, and were well prepared to return to their tribes, the mes- 
sengers of peace, to become leaders of a new family instead of 
ti'ibal life, abandoning their former precarious mode of living and 
devoting themselves to agricultural and other peaceful pursuits. 
The younger Indians were placed in school at Hampton, Vir- 
ginia, for the purpose of continuing and perfecting their educa- 
tion, to qualify them to become teachers. Thus a most valuable 
experience was obtained of the docility of the Indian character 
and some light thrown upon the Indian problem, which has so 
long embarrassed our Government. 

The engraved map of the city as it existed in 1763, upwards 
of a century since, exhibits no material change in the configura- 
tion of the locality, and determines s^ufficiently the fact that St. 
Augustine occupies the site of the Indian town of Selooe, which 
offered a welcome to Menendez in 1565. It was immediately 
fortified upon his landing, and there is no reason to suppose that 
any change of location afterwards occni'red. 

During the past few years many residences have been erected 
north of the city, and others on the west side of the St. Sebas- 
tian, the limits of the city proper within the gates not permitting 
much additional growth within the limits of the compactly built 
old Spanish city. 

The insufficient depth of water on the bar precludes its attain- 
ing much commercial importance, and its location upon the coast 
so near the river St. Johns gives but a moderate support from 
the interior. It is now becoming somewhat of a summer resort 
for persons living in the interior of the State, offering consider- 
able attraction in sea-bathing and a cooler atmosphere, owing to 
the prevalence of the invigorating sea-bi'eeze common to the 
whole eastern coast. 

Two enterprises of great importance to St. Augustine are now 
in contemplation — one the opening of inland communication by 
water by way of the North river to the St. Johns near its mouth, 
and with the whole Southern coast by the connecting of the Ma- 
tanzas river with the Halifax river, a distance of but a few miles, 
and Mosquito lagoon Avith Indian river; for which a company is 
now organzed. The other is the construction of a railroad from 
Jacksonville to the Halifax river, by way of St. Augustine ; the 
work of construction of this road has alreadv commenced. If 



OF ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, 117 

these enterprises are carried into effect, St. Augustine may be 
expected to derive very great benefit from them. 

St. Augustine attained its three hundredth birthday on the 
8th day of September, 1865, and is consequently now in the 
fourth century <>f it^ existence. Sixty years have elapsed since 
it came under the American flag in 1821. Its population has 
never exceeded three thousand, which is probably about its pres- 
ent number of iidiabitants, but there is every reason to suppose 
that its future growth will be considerable and permanent. I am 
sure that no one will feel otherwise than that its old age shall be 
tranquil and serene, and that its name may ever be associated 
with pleasant memories. 



